It Takes Seconds to Break
by Mooka333
Summary: They have their covers broken, betrayed from within, and are left to wonder who they can trust. When an old threat appears, Winnie and Bucky turn to an old ally for help in piecing together the scattered bits of the puzzle and it becomes clear just how fragile a thing trust really is. Part Three in a series of fics, following "Until the End" & "Remember, Remember". Bucky/OC
1. Chapter 1

***** And we're back – wow, I really can't quit this stuff… anyway, this is a slightly longer, multi-chapter, "one-shot" and it will tie in with recent Agents of SHIELD stuff, so spoilers ahead I guess if you haven't watched it recently? There were some interesting tie-ins from AoS in the first half of this season that mesh super well with Chapter 4 of 'Until the End', so I'm excited to go there. If you've stumbled upon this, you'll want to hold up and read "Until the End" and then "Remember, Remember" first :)**

**I'll be posting each chapter as it's ready to go! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this, please read and review (if you're up for it), it's nice to hear from you, and in such a small fandom on this site, it's a nice little thing to boost my wily writer's-ego haha – I appreciate every last one of you! *****

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**Chapter One – Exposures**

"Ow, ow, Winnie, that's my hair."

"Don't be a baby, we both know that didn't hurt."

"_Ow,_ yes it did."

"Sorry Bucky."

"No, you're not."

"You're right, I'm not – hey, don't rip this one too!"

"Too late… hmmm you should take that off."

"What? My bra?... no, you do it."

"I'm trying…. Ugh…."

"This one clasps at the front."

"You should really wear no bra at all… ah, there we go."

"Better?"

"Very… ow, ow, my hair again."

"Sorry Bucky."

"No, you're not."

"You're right, I'm really not."

"Ow! That was on purpose."

"Yup, what are you going to do about it?" Winnie giggled when Bucky buried his face in her neck as his hand roamed downwards, and then she gasped when he began to show her exactly what he meant to do about her 'accidental' hair pulling. Winnie could feel her heart beating in her ears as she breathed heavier and heavier, Bucky's head moving from her neck, and then lower.

"Oh my god, Bucky…"

"This is good?"

"Stop asking – it's great… oh my god!" She gasped loudly and shuddered happily, and then suddenly froze, her hand flying down to grab the hair on the back of his head again, jerking once as she tried to buck him off.

"Oh my god," she said again, this time in a panicked hiss, "Bucky, there's someone in the house." He looked up to her face and blinked foggily at her, his eyes clouded with an emotion on the polar opposite end of the one filling her gaze. "What?" He managed to say, and she pulled his hair again, scooting away from him.

"_Someone's in the house,_" she hissed. His features tightened quickly and he flipped sideways off the bed faster than she thought possible, reaching for the pile of his clothing on the floor, groaning quietly in discomfort when he had to pull his pants on. The room was dim, the curtains drawn to keep the sun outside, and Winnie grabbed blindly at her clothes. She couldn't find her underthings anywhere; the bra had been tossed by Bucky across the room, landing god knows where, and he had completely shredded her panties when he pawed them off her.

She just managed to yank on her sweatpants and a tank top, pulling the bottom of the shirt down, when their bedroom was thrown open and several armed and armored men came pouring in. Bucky reacted viciously, and quickly, grabbing the nearest man with his metal arm and heaving him like a broken toy across the room. The intruder smashed into the wall and fell to the floor unmoving. One of them shot a tranquilizer dart at Winnie, almost immediately, and though she easily deflected it, sending it directly into the wall, her heart sank – _Hydra._

"Grab the girl," the man closest to the door said, the authority in his voice marking him as their leader. Bucky snarled and threw himself at another man, who had stupidly charged him, and Winnie took the opportunity to rip a closet door off its hinges and heave it at one of the men hard enough to partially slam him _into_ a wall; he hung half in and half out of the wall, dead or unconscious, she wasn't sure and didn't care. They were obviously here to retrieve her and likely kill Bucky, and she was willing to kill every last one of them to prevent that, no matter how sick the thought made her.

Two more men went after Bucky after he'd easily dispatched another one of them, and three of them came at Winnie at once. They all shot dozens and dozens of tranquilizer darts at her and she knew that if this were 8 months ago, she would have been hit several times over.

Bucky, however, had been pushing her hard while they stayed in hiding, constantly pushing her to control more and more of her ability. One of his favorite things to do was throw handfuls of pebbles or small rocks at her as she frantically scrambled to deflect them all. She hated it, but now, when every last one of the darts was deflected either into the wall, floor, or back at the shooters, she was savagely grateful.

One of the men on Bucky let out a horrific scream when his metal hand grasped the man's face, squeezed violently and then heaved him in the direction of the window, which the man flew through, spraying glass everywhere. The man who'd barked the order to grab Winnie charged at her now, as yet more intruders piled into the room behind him. _Good god, the room is full_, she thought wildly as she lashed out at their bigger commander. He feinted side to side as the other men all moved straight to Bucky, obviously intent on overwhelming the Winter Soldier so she could be taken.

When the commander finally lunged at her, Winnie glared and sneered, holding him back by his body armor. As his men died behind him, Winnie backed the frozen man towards the wall and flattened him against it, his shirts and chest plate pressing into his throat, not tight enough to choke, but enough to incapacitate. She glanced over at Bucky and screamed in anger when she saw him get hit in the jaw by one man's lucky fist.

A nightstand flew through the air, slamming into that man and driving him through the wall, into the hallway, through the next wall, through the kitchen, through the outer brick wall and into the yard. She was enraged now and the walls began to shake, along with the floors. The wallpaper ripped and tore as the wall behind it splintered, cracking open. A fissure opened up just below the broken bedroom window and then Winnie fully lost herself.

This was not part of her training, and she could feel the moment of euphoric release when she handed over control of her ability to her rage and ripped the house apart around them, flattening and throwing the cars outside, heaving chunks of roof and furniture debris at the Hydra agents standing guard on their expansive front lawn. Bucky took care of the remaining men on him and rushed over to her, grabbing the hand that was stretched out towards the men on the driveway and lawn, her whole arm shaking violently.

"Winnie," he said loudly, "_Winnie!_ Calm down!" She looked to him, glaring at him and he put both his flesh and metal hand to her face. "Please, control yourself," he urged her, his voice carrying over the sound of their home being obliterated around them, "It's over, Winnie!" She took several breaths and then went fairly limp, sinking to her knees to catch her breath.

The man she'd held pinned to the wall this entire time also sank to the ground as she released her hold on everything around herself. Bucky charged over to him, and Winnie turned her eyes to them, watching as Bucky used the metal arm to hold the man up against what was left of the wall.

"How?!" Bucky yelled, angrily, "How did you know? How did you find us here?" Winnie climbed slowly to her feet, feeling the blood rushing through her limbs and zipping up into her face again as she fully stepped out of the cloud of rage that had just engulfed her so fully.

"You were betrayed," the man hissed at them, laughing in Bucky's face even as he let out a pained groan when Bucky punched him in the gut. "Who?" She asked sharply, "Tell me who or so help me god…" The man laughed harder and then, to her horror, she saw him use his tongue to push out a tooth, which he crunched down on.

His eyes shone with a fanatic's gleam and he spoke triumphantly before he foamed at the mouth and died: "Hail Hydra."

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"You've got chunks of house in your legs!" Winnie cried, pulling on his arm to stop him. He let her halt him and she crouched down, to his calves, yanking at the shards of wood and metal that had been stabbing into him. He felt mild relief when they were removed, and then some pain when she tore off ragged strips of her t-shirt and tied them around the wounds. She climbed to her feet and he saw she had barely anything left of her shirt.

"You can't walk around like that," he told her flatly, gesturing at the smooth curve of hip, waist, and stomach that was now exposed after she'd used half her shirt as bandaging. It was not only distracting, but he worried it would attract too much attention as they limped down the road to find a payphone, not to mention the absolutely frigid temperature of the winter's day. Bucky pulled off his hoodie and made her put it on.

"No," she said to him, trying to push it back even as her teeth chattered violently, "You'll be… cold…" she trailed off when she seemed to realize how silly that sentiment was, he had on a long-sleeved t-shirt underneath that he'd thrown on before the fight erupted, and as long as his metal arm was hidden from view, there was no other reason to wear the hoodie. The long sleeved t-shirt fit much more snug to the shape of the cybernetic limb, but he hoped no one would stare too hard if he just kept the hand in a pants pocket.

He smirked at her and then glared, waving a hand at the hoodie. "On. Now," he ordered, and then watched as she slipped it on and zipped it up. It dropped down to mid-thigh on her and the sleeves drooped almost humorously past her wrists, but she just curled the loose ends of the sleeves over and around her hands, and then gestured ahead.

"Let's keep going, the Denny's has a payphone in the parking lot," she told him. He nodded and reached for her hand as they walked. Neither of them spoke about the absolute wreck and ruin of the house they'd left at the end of the long driveway two streets behind them, and neither of them spoke about the near-army of men who'd descended on them.

He, especially, did not speak about how she had completely lost all control of herself and created cracks in the very earth around the house. His only stunned thought upon seeing them was, _well, that's new. _That was in addition to the absolute destruction of the structure itself. _I will talk to Steve, first, _he thought, worried about what she had done, for her own sake, but also knowing he would absolutely say the wrong thing and either enrage her or hurt her feelings.

When they reached Denny's, Winnie reached for the phone and immediately began to punch in numbers, not using any change. He watched her, fascinated by the obvious code she was using, and then turned to keep his eyes on the parking lot and street around them.

"It's me," Winnie spoke, "The big bad wolf showed up." There was silence as she listened to the person on the other end of the line. "No, not possible," Winnie added, before taking in an angry breath, "Because, Nat, it's _not there anymore, got it?"_ He turned to her and made a warning face, catching her eyes and mouthing 'calm down'. She rolled her eyes and clenched her teeth, but began taking deep breaths, in through her nose and out through her mouth.

"Denny's," she said, "Two blocks east, by the dumpsters." She hung up the phone immediately and looked over at him. "They're coming," she said quietly. He pulled her in for a brief hug, lifting the hood portion of the hoodie over her head, before laying his cheek against the top of her head for a moment. An elderly couple walked by and smiled at them, before Bucky started to urge her away from the street, saying, "Let's go wait by the garbage."

She laughed briefly, but nodded and they walked swiftly to the back of the restaurant. As they leaned against the back wall of the building, Winnie kept looking over at him, her eyes cautious. "What are you thinking?" He finally asked her, and she sighed, tipping her head back to rest on the wall, her eyes not leaving his face.

"He said we were betrayed," she murmured, "But, by who? Only the Avengers know where we are at any given time, and none of them would have –". He halted her sentence by putting a hand to her arm and gripping her firmly. "Do you know that for certain?" He demanded, thinking that perhaps she was heading down a rather naïve path. She glared at him and threw his hand off her arm.

"What are you even saying?" She snapped at him, angry, "That _Steve_ betrayed me? _Tony_? Or Bruce?" He shook his head and opened his mouth to answer but she held a hand up, indicating he should remain quiet. "Bucky, seriously? Who? Thor? _Natasha_? Clint? I don't think so, I would trust any of them with my _life!_" She cried. He shook his head.

"They are not the only ones who know," he murmured to her, trying not to make her angry, but stubbornly determined that she face the facts.

"You said that Agent Hill knows. Tony's woman knows. Sam –" He was interrupted again when she charged at him, leaning as close to his face as she could get. "You know Sam would _never -_," she began heatedly, but he put a gentle hand on her shoulder, leaning down a little so he was inches from her face.

"My point is that for two people who are not supposed to exist, a lot of people know about us: where we are, what we are doing," he explained, as calmly and firmly as he could muster, "Winnie, we must be smart; so many of them know and people _talk_, even if they think they are helping, they still _talk._" She looked away and took several deep breaths.

"Sorry," she muttered, finally looking back at him, her eyes moving back and forth between his, "I'm sorry, you're right." She closed her eyes and took the last step towards him, pressing herself against him, letting her arms snake around him. He wrapped his own arms around her and rested his chin on her hair. He knew she was still quite cold by the way she shuddered at the contact with his body heat

"Who can we trust then?" She asked him quietly, her breath blowing hot against his shirt. He pulled her in tighter, trying to encase her in his arms and provide as much warmth as possible.

"Steve, always Steve," he replied, "Beyond him, I don't know – these are your people, not mine." The rumble of a car coming closer to the back of the restaurant than a regular patron's would grabbed their attention and they stepped away from each other, Bucky moving to subtly tuck her behind himself.

A brown SUV stopped several feet away from them and the passenger door opened. Steve, wearing a ball cap and green t-shirt, jumped out, immediately running over to them. "What the hell happened?" He asked them both worriedly, his face tight with concern as he took in their filthy and disheveled appearances.

"Hydra," they both answered at once. Steve's expression froze as he absorbed this and he clapped a hand to Bucky's shoulder, nodding at him, before stepping around him and hugging Winnie. Bucky watched, seeing as she put her mouth close to Steve's ear and whispered something that made Steve flinch and pull away, horror on his face.

"Not here," she warned him, glancing back at the truck. He looked over his shoulder and then back to her, then up to Bucky, his eyes wide and disbelieving. "It's just Clint," he told them softly. Winnie nodded.

"Where we are going, how private will it be?" Bucky asked him in a low voice. Steve looked flustered for a moment and then nodded slightly. "There are places we can speak privately," Steve said cautiously, "It's not another house." Bucky took an involuntary step forward. "What?" He asked their friend gruffly, the one word demanding an explanation. Steve looked mildly uncomfortable.

"It's a small SHIELD facility, we've been there a lot lately," Steve explained. "No," Winnie and Bucky spoke at the same time again and he glanced down at her, noting the faint smile on her face that they were sharing words again.

"No, you can't really expect us to go there, Steve, come on," Winnie griped, "You want me to bring the Winter Soldier there? You want me there? Hydra is obviously actively hunting me, and how do you know that this place isn't infiltrated? That some agents haven't held onto their covers for just such an occasion as this? No!"

Steve shook his head at her. "No, no, listen, trust me, it's not what you think, it's a small SHIELD facility, but it's an _old_ one, an unused one, it's just _us_ there, and … well, you'll see, but no one who is actively part of SHIELD is there right now," he rushed to reassure them.

Bucky stepped back, resigned, and closed his eyes for a moment, envisioning just how terribly this might go, the things he might have to do to get them both out of there if it came down to it. _Anything,_ he thought, _I would end anyone I had to._ The thought made him slightly sad, as if it showed him just how much of the _Soldier_ really remained.

He glanced over to Winnie and saw she was studying him. "Steve, go to the car," she told their friend, "We'll be right there." Steve made a noise like he would protest, and Bucky could see the back of Steve's t-shirt tugging, a gentle reminder from Winnie that she expected compliance.

Steve shook his head sadly and headed back to the vehicle. "What did you tell him," Bucky spoke nearly silently, not turning to look at her. "That we were betrayed from within," she responded just as quietly, "Bucky, what do we do? What if we get there and… well, you know… what _if_?" He pulled her a few more feet from the vehicle and turned his back to it, blocking the occupants' view of each of them. He leaned down to her ear, so only she could hear him.

"We will do _exactly_ what we did at the house," he whispered to her. She stiffened and looked into his eyes. "It may end up being friendly fire," she murmured in return, "Bucky, I'm afraid that they'll separate us or worse." He shook his head and put his hand to her face for a moment, feeling a twist in his stomach when she leaned into his palm, closing her eyes.

"You know what to do, thought maybe with more control than today, but we have worked on this, Winnie," he told her evenly, "It will be fine." She turned her face and kissed his palm before popping up on her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to his mouth, her arms coiling lightly about his neck as he pulled her to him. He could feel the slight tremor of her fear and it made him grip her more tightly. _Anything,_ _anyone._

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Steve watched them, leaning together and whispering to each other, neither of their faces visible until Winnie embraced Bucky and they began to kiss.

"What the hell are they doing?" Clint asked dryly from the driver's seat, "They do know they get to sit together right? That they don't gotta bunk separately?" He chuckled a little and Steve looked over at the archer, a strained smile on his own face.

_They're saying goodbye,_ he thought with mute horror, _they really think this is the end._ He was hurt at the lack of trust they had in him, in the members of the Avengers. He knew though, on a very non-personal level, that kind of worry and fear only came from a strong belief and rock-solid conviction that something was seriously wrong.

He wasn't sure if they trusted him anymore, but he trusted them, especially Winnie, and his stomach began to roil at the thought of betrayal, again, from within. _But who? And how? And for god's sake, why?_

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The ride to the SHIELD facility was awkward and quiet. Clint attempted to break it several times by engaging Winnie in small talk, but it usually fell flat. "So, you're going by Bucky now?" Clint asked, his eyes moving to meet Bucky's in the rear-view mirror. Winnie turned a little to look over at Bucky, a small smile on her face. _'Humor him'_, she mouthed to Bucky and he grimaced but turned his hard gaze back up to Clint.

"Yes," he responded shortly. Winnie shook her head, watching the back of Clint's head nod a couple times. "Right, ok, so Win, what's going with you?" he asked her, realizing the Winter Soldier wasn't up for banal chitchat.

"Oh, you know, the usual," she replied easily, trying her best to sound pleasant; she had to forcefully remind herself that Clint was not the enemy – he was an ally, a friend, an Avenger. "The usual?" He responded, "Does that typically include splitting the ground open?" Bucky's metal hand shot out, and grabbed Clint's shoulder roughly, causing the truck to teeter slightly as the steering wheel was jostled.

"Shut up," Bucky told him, "Not now." Clint looked ready to respond, but Winnie could see that Bucky's flesh hand had moved around the other side of the front passenger seat and was tightly gripping Steve's arm. "Uh yeah, how about we save that shop talk until later, guys?" Steve suddenly blurted out. Bucky released both men and leaned back in his seat and she blinked a couple times, staring at him incredulously. _Well that was subtle,_ she thought in irritation.

She considered saying something, forcing the conversation wide open, but a glance at Bucky told her how concerned he actually was for her, and she decided that it would be better to wait, especially because of the pinpricks racing up and down her spine at the memory of her anger, her utter rage, and how _satisfying_ it was to watch things break apart in that state.

"Who's there?" She asked Steve carefully, changing the subject. He turned in his seat to look back at her. "What do you mean?" He responded. Winnie waved a hand at him.

"I mean, who is at this facility right now, who can we expect to see when we get there?" She clarified. She didn't miss the split second glance over to Clint, before Steve started talking, and it made her feel strange.

"Natasha is there, Banner too. Things got a little heated for him after SHIELD went down – the military is after him without SHIELD to hold them off," Steve explained, his face clearly unhappy about it. "Really?" She asked, thinking of Bruce, gentle, intelligent, soft-spoken, Bruce, "He's not a threat unless he's truly pushed, and they're actively trying to push him?"

Steve shook his head. "I know, it makes little sense, but the military, the whole damn government, they're after him, us, what's left of SHIELD; it's a manhunt," he explained.

"Sam?" She asked, thinking it might be nice to see the man again. Steve nodded. "He's there too, Hydra tried to kill him as soon as he went back to his apartment, so he can't be a civilian any longer, and he won't go back to the military," Steve's voice didn't sound unhappy about that, but Winnie wondered if Sam was alright with it.

"Tony is in New York, he won't come near us right now," Steve added quietly, his eyes darting over to Bucky. Winnie wilted just the smallest bit and Bucky put a hand on her arm. She looked over at him and smiled sadly. "I think he'll get over it, Win, see the sense in what you've been trying to say about Bucky, he just needs time, it's been a hard couple of years altogether for him," Steve spoke soothingly, convincingly, and Winnie smiled at him.

"You're an unfailing optimist, my friend," she told him, meeting his eyes. Steve smirked a little, saluting her, and turned back in his seat as they rounded the final corner on their journey, coming to a stop outside of an aged, dirty, abandoned-looking dam.

"Honey, we're home," Clint said under his breath.

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He held back, Winnie at his side, as they entered the unassuming looking door that appeared to be the entrance. When she realized the direction they were walking in, Winnie had cast out ahead of them and flung the door open before they'd even reached the threshold. The metal door clanged loudly as it smashed against the wall behind it, and Steve had shot her a dirty look.

"Was that necessary?" He asked her sharply, and was answered with a scowl from her. Bucky said nothing, just kept himself rigid, expecting a threat at each turn they took through the damp, dank, hallways. There were hardly any lights at all and he wasn't surprised to hear each of their footfalls echoing.

"I know what you're thinking," Clint said mildly, "It's cozy, right?" Winnie spluttered out a surprised laugh, which echoed up and down the hall, before she clapped her glare back on her face.

"Natasha?" Steve called out, his tone a mixture of a greeting and a warning. "Oh, you're back," she replied, before stepping through a dark door way and joining them as they made their way down the unwelcoming hallway, "Hey Win." Winnie nodded in greeting and the redheaded woman looked back at him, her brow twitching slightly.

"And you," she said, by way of greeting him. He nodded at her and didn't reply. He knew the only people in the facility likely to trust him were the ones who had known him the longest, and he wasn't surprised or upset by their reactions to him. Winnie was though, he could tell she was bristling slightly next to him. He put a hand on her arm and whispered, "_Calm down,"_ to her, in Russian. She didn't speak the language, but it was a little joke between the two of them and she smiled a bit.

"She's seems pretty calm to me," Natasha said wryly, not looking back at them. Bucky levelled a glare at the back of her red head, trying to keep down the urge to say something vicious back to her. He always forgot she spoke Russian, was actually born and raised Russian. They had only discovered that Bucky fluently spoke Russian himself when he and Winnie had been watching a movie, and there were terrible English subtitles played over top of a scene where Russian was spoken.

"That's not what he said," Bucky had grumbled, making Winnie look at him, brow scrunched together in confusion. "How on earth would you even know that?" She had asked him, mystified. It didn't take long to put it together after that; much like grooming, driving, fixing things, weapons, and other… more pleasant things – his memory of the ability to speak Russian came back to him as soon as he started to do it.

The dark hallway finally came to an end and they walked into a huge open space, folding tables and chairs in the centre of the room, kitchen appliances and make-shift kitchen surfaces looking out of place on one wall, with a rather large table of multiple computers along another wall.

"Wow, you've been living large, haven't you?" Winnie muttered sarcastically, and Steve turned to give her an exasperated look. "You're behaving a little immaturely," he chided her and she rolled her eyes before strolling to the table and leaning against it. Natasha made her way over to the table as well, dropping into a chair and kicking back with her feet propped up on the table.

Clint moved to the computers and settled himself at the station furthest from them all, where the screens faced away from them; a move Bucky found instantly suspicious. "Are you hungry?" Steve asked from next to him, distracting him from his tense evaluation of Barton. "Always," Bucky answered honestly, his tone relatively flat. Steve smiled with one side of his mouth and gestured towards the kitchen.

He saw Winnie and Natasha engaged in an earnest, low-voiced conversation and decided to leave them to it, following Steve into the make-shift kitchen. "You can eat whatever you want, we take turns going out for food, so there's always plenty," Steve explained pulling open the fridge. Bucky nodded at him and began to retrieve the necessary items to make sandwiches, his eyes darting over to Winnie. Steve took a seat at one of the tall chairs on the other side of the high tables being used as kitchen counters, across from him, his face steady and open, as always.

"She split the earth today," Bucky murmured, trying to keep his face in a calm expression, "I have never seen her do that before. The house was pulled apart around us, which was surprising but not unusual given what she has proven she can do in the past." He glanced up and saw that Steve was watching him raptly, his expression no longer calm, but tight and wary.

"I suppose the ground is a physical thing, so it's not out of the realm of possibility…" Steve's voice trailed off and Bucky shook his head minutely. "To split it like an earthquake?" Bucky asked him softly, incredulously, "If I had not been there to stop her, who knows how deep it could have gone? If she would have been swallowed by the fissure she created." Steve had no answer, only glanced back over his shoulder at Winnie, trying not to look as worried as Bucky knew he felt.

"I don't know what we do about this," Steve finally said, "I have no intention of locking her up." Bucky looked up at him sharply. "You think I do?" He asked harshly, nearly pulverizing the tomato he was trying to cut into slices. Steve shook his head.

"You know that's not what I meant, Buck," Steve said quietly. Bucky closed his eyes for a moment and went back to working on the sandwiches. "You said," Steve told him, "a few months ago, remember? You said, you were training with her, helping her gain some control." Bucky nodded and put his first few sandwiches on a plate, beginning on the next set.

"I am, we are, and it's been going well," Bucky told him flatly. Steve rubbed at his jaw for a moment before nodding. "Then that's all you can keep doing, right?" Steve replied. Bucky nodded. They were each silent as Bucky made several more sandwiches.

"Do you think…?" Bucky's voice trailed off as he twisted the lid back onto the mayonnaise. He looked up at Steve who nodded at him to continue, "Do you think I need to speak with her? Offer her counsel? A warning?"

"Ah, well," Steve replied, getting up and looking uncomfortable, "I don't know if I can give great advice there."

"Why not? You're an Avenger, you're technically her leader, correct?" Bucky asked in mild irritation, "That makes it your job to give me advice, or even, to speak to her yourself." Steve made a disbelieving face at him.

"Maybe if you two weren't sleeping together," Steve finally said bluntly, making Bucky recoil slightly. He met his friend's eye and held the steady gaze for a moment, completely out of his element. "So that changes the advice?" Bucky finally asked flatly, and Steve nodded.

"If you were two fighters on the same team, comrades, or even just friends, then I would say, yes, you need to sit and speak with her, you have more experience with this kind of thing, even if you don't remember it. Your instincts are all intact. You could give her advice, and warnings, perhaps even orders, but now…" Steve trailed off for a moment and stared hard at the pile of sandwiches.

"But now?" Bucky asked, leaning a little towards his friend. Steve looked up at him and gave him a crooked smile.

"Everything's a little more complicated, wouldn't you say?" Steve replied, and Bucky took a step back, crossing his arms over his chest for a moment. He eventually picked up a sandwich and began to eat it methodically, not even aware of the flavor as he did so. Steve took one as well.

"How did you know?" Bucky finally asked, when the sandwich was gone, "About her and me?... that we had… 'slept together'." Steve swallowed the mouthful of bread and his eyes skated away, guiltily.

"Oh, well, you know," Steve said, obviously stalling, and Bucky tilted his head to the side slightly, eyes narrowing. "No, I don't," he responded, "Tell me."

Steve looked entirely uncomfortable and suddenly Natasha's throaty voice sounded from their left, as she approached the counter. "He knows because I told him," she answered simply, reaching for a sandwich. Bucky stared at her, not even sure how to begin questioning her.

"Ooh, sandwiches," Winnie said, following Natasha over a moment later. She grabbed one and took a huge bite out of it, chewing quickly before bringing it to her mouth for a second bite and pausing there when she seemed to suddenly realize the tension around the plate of food.

"Did I miss something?" She asked carefully, lowering her sandwich. Her eyes turned cautiously to Bucky's and he said nothing, trying to keep his face blank. He didn't necessarily mind that people knew, for most of them he assumed it was just a foregone conclusion that he and Winnie would be involved with one another. However, he was not pleased with the notion that, just like the bigger secret of where they were living at any given time, people were discussing something that was not theirs to discuss.

"No!" Steve said, his tone overly-light, at the exact same time that Natasha said, "Everyone knows you're sleeping together and he," she jerked a thumb over towards Bucky without looking in his direction, "Doesn't like that we all know."

Winnie blinked a couple of times and looked down at her sandwich. He watched her carefully, knowing that her odd combination of old world values and new world experience left her at a disadvantage sometimes; she was willing to behave as a 'modern girl' (as she put it), but still felt constrained, and guilty, about a lot of it.

"Well," Winnie said, before taking another bite out of her sandwich, using the food as an excuse not to talk. Bucky grabbed another sandwich and then grabbed the plate and brought it over to the table across the room, dropping it down on the center of it. "What do you guys do? Sit around and talk about us?" Winnie griped quietly behind him.

"You're the one that told me," Natasha said right back, her tone sounding anything but upset.

"That was supposed to be between you and me!" Winnie exclaimed. He turned to see Natasha shrug nonchalantly, taking a lady-like bite of her sandwich. "You never said it was a secret, so I told Steve," she explained, "And a few others."

Winnie frowned at her. "I shouldn't have had to tell you, I thought we were friends," Winnie snapped back. Natasha shrugged again.

"Are we?" Natasha asked her, her tone the tiniest bit teasing, "Maybe you should have told me that first." Winnie glared darkly at the red head and then shot Steve a look that melted from angry to mildly mortified. She turned on her heel and scuttled back over to Bucky, sitting down at the table and grabbing another sandwich. He glanced over at her and took another sandwich himself, noting that her ears were very red, as was the back of her neck.

"I miss the house," she mumbled into her bread. Bucky grunted in response. "Your house is a crater, last time I saw it," Barton piped in helpfully from his seat at the computer. "Even so," she shot back, although the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. Barton chuckled and the clacking of the computer keys resumed. When all the sandwiches were gone, Steve and Natasha must have deemed it safe to return to the table, as they came and sat in the other chairs.

"Where are Bruce and Sam?" Winnie asked casually, flicking bread crumbs to the floor. She was answered with silence and that made Bucky look up sharply, first at Natasha, who maintained a level, placid countenance, and then to Steve, who was holding a very false expression of nonchalance on his face.

"Where?" Bucky asked a little more harshly. Winnie seemed to catch on to his mood and sat up straighter in her chair. "What's going on? You can't tell us? Now who has trust issues?" She snapped at them. Natasha took a deep breath and leaned towards them, bracing her elbows on the table.

"You don't know, because you don't need to know," she told them simply. Bucky leaned back in his seat, not caring for her tone, but deciding to drop the matter. Winnie didn't seem ready to. She shot to her feet and glared at Natasha. "Can we speak somewhere private?" She snapped at the other woman. Natasha raised one eyebrow and glanced over at Steve and then over to Bucky.

"Will you excuse us, boys?" She asked them in a low voice, before following Winnie down the long hallway. Steve looked over at Bucky, raised both his eyebrows, and said, "Well, that should be a fun conversation."

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"This isn't private enough," Winnie said firmly, when Natasha tried to lead her into a small room off the hallway. Natasha looked around and shot Winnie a mildly surprised look. "What do you mean?" She asked and Winnie pointed at the ceiling.

"I meant someplace where we couldn't be overheard," Winnie replied, "By anyone or anything." She took a step towards Natasha and lowered her voice, "Somewhere where the walls don't have ears." Natasha studied her for a long moment before nodding and leading the way outside. She followed the agent across the gravel where the truck was parked, up a steep set of metal stairs and then up several more sets of concrete steps. She led Winnie to the top of the dam, where the wind blew harder and they were surrounded by open space on either side of the walkway.

"Will this do?" Natasha asked her, a serious look on her face. Winnie nodded and looked around. "We've been betrayed," she told Natasha simply. To her credit, the red head didn't look shocked, only crossed her arms over her chest and rolled a hand at Winnie to continue.

"It was Hydra today, you know that," Winnie began, and Natasha nodded minutely, "Their leader, we tried to question him, and he told us that he knew where to find us, that _Hydra _knew where to find us, because we had been betrayed by one of our own." Natasha took a deep breath, her eyes never leaving Winnie's.

"Was that all?" Natasha asked and Winnie nodded, and then shrugged. "Well, it's all we got out of him, before he killed himself. A cyanide tablet in his tooth, I think," Winnie explained. Natasha chewed the inside of her mouth for a moment, briefly gazing out over the side of the dam.

"You don't think it's me," Natasha stated, and Winnie made a quiet noise of agreement. "Or Steve," Winnie added softly. Natasha looked back at her and smirked a little bit. "I suppose I should be flattered," she told Winnie, who only rolled her eyes in response.

"It wouldn't be Clint," Natasha said, her fingers unconsciously running over the small necklace at her throat. Winnie watched her and nodded. "I don't think so either," Winnie agreed, "Or Tony, or Bruce, or Sam, or Hill."

"You forgot Thor," Natasha added, her voice amused. Winnie laughed briefly. "I don't think we register on his radar right now at all, to be honest," Winnie said in a dry voice and Natasha laughed. "Not unless your name is Jane," the red head muttered. They were silent before Winnie grew agitated and began to pace.

"Nat, it had to be someone," Winnie said seriously, "Someone talked, said something to someone else they shouldn't have, it's the only thing that makes sense – I just don't know who." Natasha cleared her throat and Winnie looked over at her sharply.

"What? What aren't you telling us?" Winnie snapped, her irritation flooding her voice. Natasha pressed her lips together and shook her head. "I can't say," Natasha said, holding up a hand to stop Winnie's immediate protests, "Not yet, not until… not yet."

Winnie was getting frustrated. "Natasha!" She cried angrily, "For god's sake! They almost had us today! If I hadn't heard them at the last minute the way I did, they would have made it through the door and tranq'd us both before we could even react!" Natasha gave her a skeptical look.

"You're dating the Winter Soldier, I find it hard to believe that anyone 'almost' got the jump on you," Natasha said wryly. Winnie made a face and looked away. "He was… preoccupied at the time," Winnie managed to say, feeling her ears burn, "He didn't hear them." Natasha blinked at her and then comprehension flitted across her features.

"You weren't," the agent said in flat, amused, disbelief, "You're telling me they barged in on you both while you were –"

"Nat! That's _not_ the point!" Winnie cried, her embarrassment clear. Natasha smirked at her again, her expression a little more teasing.

"You don't need to be so embarrassed over it, you know, it's perfectly natural –"

"_Natasha!_"

"I'm just saying, you both spent 70 years hard up for each other and now –"

"Oh my lord, this conversation is over," Winnie snapped, waving her hands in front of herself, her entire face burning now, "Just promise me you'll put some thought to what I've said, help us figure this out? And be discreet?" Natasha snorted in a dainty way and her eyebrow rose up again.

"Discreet is something you know I can do," she replied calmly, before her features tightened into something more serious, "I don't like this anymore than you do; we will figure this out."

"That's all I ask," Winnie replied, heading back towards the stairs. Natasha walked at her side and they were both quiet as they made their way down.

"Just out of curiosity, how _is_ a 98 year old man in bed?"

"I will throw you over this dam, so help me god."

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"I had been hoping to see Bruce before we went to bed," Winnie said faintly, as she pawed through a cardboard box of clothes, "I wanted to say hi and see how he's handling being stuck here." Bucky didn't reply, only sat back on the bed and removed his shoes. "Ah, here we go," she said in triumph, pulling out a clean tank top and sweatpants for herself.

He watched in growing interest as she began to get changed, prying off the stained and dirty clothing she'd worn all day and slipping into the leftover SHIELD issue clothes that Natasha had produced boxes of. "You should come over here," he told her, as she pulled the pants up. She shot a look over at him, a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.

"I don't think I should," she replied primly, bending and picking up her dirty clothing and piling it by the door to their room, "Neither of us has showered and I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted." He sighed a little and nodded, getting up and moving to the bag himself. He could hear her fussing with the bed, trying to arrange pillows and blankets, while he selected a pair of sweatpants for himself. He removed his own clothing and put on the SHIELD garment, staying shirtless, before turning back to her, finding her lying in bed already.

The room was small, grey, and bland, but they had pushed together the two small single beds in it and Winnie had made some quick arrangements with the bedding so that they would have more room. She lay nearest to the wall, on his right hand side, the side he insisted she sleep on; he didn't want her near the other arm while he slept. He had nightmares frequently, and while usually nothing happened, a few times he had lunged outwards and smashed the bedside lamp, or nightstand, and since then adamantly refused to allow her near the arm while he was unconscious.

He climbed in after her and she pulled the blankets up over them both, propping herself up on one elbow as she lay back down next to him. He lay on his back and looked over at her. "Are you tired at all?" She said softly, a nightly question of hers that translated to 'you need to sleep, please sleep'. He shook his head and she sighed, rolling sideways and laying on her back as well.

"I'm sorry," she muttered finally and he twisted to his side, to look over at her, confusion mounting inside him. "Why? Have you done something I will not like?" He asked her. She smiled briefly and shook her head, looking over at him quickly, before staring back up at the ceiling.

"They were after me, Bucky, not you," she whispered, "It's me they want. Anyone around me will be considered a hindrance; in the way." He swallowed and reached for her hand, with his metal one, grasping it lightly and running his thumb over her palm. "No," he answered her quietly and firmly, "You are wrong."

"I'm not though, Bucky, you know I'm not. Hydra wants me, and I'm worried that someone, _you_, will be hurt," she told him, "You would all have a better chance if you just handed me to them, you know." He narrowed his eyes at her and didn't reply. She turned to look at him and flinched a little at the expression on his face, he tried to dial his glare back, but found he couldn't.

"That may be the most stupid thing I have ever heard," he told her in a low, furious voice. She took in a deep breath and looked away, but he dropped her hand and reached for her face, turning her back to him. "That would solve nothing, it would only create more problems; for you, for me, for us, for everyone," he said urgently, "They will not lock you in a box and leave you there. They would turn you into a weapon and then turn you against us all."

She swallowed hard and bit her lip, and he felt a flicker of regret for being so blunt. "They also would not stop with you," he told her, his tone unchanged, "Hydra will never be content; they want everything." Winnie sighed, her shoulders rising and falling as she did, and he released her face, trailing his hand down her cheek and then up into her hair. He lightly gripped it and she turned to look at him, mild surprise on her face now.

"You will _not_ do anything about this alone," he warned her, "Promise me." She nodded, replying, "I promise, Bucky." He closed his eyes, letting go of her hair and leaning towards her, pressing a kiss to her mouth. He could see the fatigue on her face and knew she needed to sleep; it had been a long day and he thought she might function better, emotionally, if she was able to rest.

"We are safe here for now," he told her quietly, reaching behind the bed to flick the switch on the light, throwing the room into darkness, "Go to sleep, Winnie." She shifted around to lay on her stomach, the way she always did, and he wrapped his flesh arm around her, drawing her closer until she lay her head on his shoulder.

They were both silent for several minutes and he thought she might be asleep when she whispered, "Say it." He smiled into the darkness, his hand tightening slightly on her side; he'd been waiting for her demand.

"I love you."

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"Morning," Steve heard from behind himself, turning from the stove to see Winnie entering the room. He smiled and nodded, gesturing at the stove. "Good morning. I'm just making some pancakes," he told her. She grinned and took a seat at the counter.

"That," she told him, her tone satisfied, "Sounds like a great idea – you'll probably have to make about a hundred though." He chuckled and gestured at the multiple pans and the huge griddle set up next to the stove. "Actually, with you two here now, I'm guessing it'll be nearly twice that," he remarked, "Super appetites, you know." Winnie reached for his cup of coffee and took a long sip from it, frowning at the flavor.

"Ew, Steve," she griped, sliding the cup away from herself, "Why do you always insist on ruining your coffee?" She grimaced and smacked her lips and he rolled his eyes as he turned back to the pancakes. Winnie appeared a few feet to his side, and he looked over in surprise, not having heard her get up or walk over.

"Someone's been taking lessons," he commented, swiftly flipping over a couple dozen pancakes in quick succession. "What?" She asked, grabbing a mug of her own and filling it from the coffee pot. "Lessons from Bucky," he replied, "I used to be able to hear you coming from a mile away – you walk like a cat now." She laughed a little and sipped at her coffee, raising an eyebrow at him above the mug.

"Now this is _real_ coffee," she teased him, "None of that namby-pamby milk and sugar." He pointed back at the counter. "Either go sit down and quit disturbing the chef, or grab a spatula," he ordered in mock-gruffness. Winnie laughed again and went back to the counter, sliding herself up to sit on the edge of it, instead of a chair. He peeked several looks over his shoulder at her and couldn't keep the smile from his face.

It all felt so damn normal and familiar to him. Winnie, rumpled and wrinkled from bed, hair a wild snarl, sucking back her coffee like a lifeline, bugging him about his own tastes in the beverage. _I miss our lives, _he thought reluctantly, feeling a twinge of remorse that he was even having the thought, _old lives means no Bucky, though_.

He knew that he was sugar-coating the memory, that they had good times, but that the Winnie then was a lot more serious and melancholy, as if even time couldn't fully erase her grief. She was a lot happier now, perhaps more paranoid, and slightly more dangerous, which he supposed would happen to anyone who lived with the Winter Soldier, but there was no denying that she was, quite simply, more at peace.

"Did Bruce and Sam get back?" She asked quietly and he nodded, not turning around. "They're sleeping, like everyone else," he told her. "How is Bruce?" She asked him, concern in her voice, "I can't imagine this is a welcome turn of events for him." Steve didn't answer immediately as he removed the completed batch of pancakes, stacking them on a tray and sliding it into a slightly warmed oven to keep them hot while he cooked.

"SHIELD did more for him than any of us actually realized," Steve answered carefully, "They seemed intrusive at times, always keeping tabs on him, but they let him be, and they kept everyone else off of him, so he could live his life how he pleased." Winnie made a small noise of unhappiness behind him and he resisted the urge to turn around, instead pouring out more batter.

"Now, there's no one left to call the dogs off," she murmured, and Steve grunted in agreement. "What dogs?" A voice came from the hall that led to the dorms, and he glanced over his shoulder to see a sleepy-looking Bruce standing there. Winnie dropped her cup on the counter with a thunk and bounded from her seat there. "Bruce!" She cried happily, charging towards him.

"Hey Winnie," he replied calmly, accepting her exuberant hug with a smile. Steve shook his head a little bit and turned back to his pancakes. After the Hulk had nearly torn her in half, he was surprised at her continued friendship with the mild-mannered doctor, but they had really taken a liking to each other. Winnie had even had another chance to see the Hulk, in New York, after she'd awoken from Natasha clubbing her across the head, and before the Hulk eventually changed back into Bruce.

As the two of them chatted behind him, he remembered how terrified she'd been of going anywhere near the green creature, when they'd joined everyone else on the ruined streets. He could _feel_ her tensing up, there were faint tugs at his clothing and bits of debris all around them had begun to rise from the ground as she fought herself, trying not to be afraid.

The 'other guy' as Banner put it, had turned with an angry growl from where Thor was busily restraining Loki, and the creature had looked around, an unusually dumbstruck look on his face, as one large green hand reached out and batted at a piece of concrete floating by it. Steve was never certain how, but somehow, the other guy knew that Winnie was the source of this fascinating phenomenon and had grunted eagerly at her, before pointing at a car.

"_That_," Hulk had grunted. Everyone turned round eyes to Winnie, even Natasha looking astonished. Winnie stood in her Nomad uniform, goggles down over her face so her eyes were mostly hidden. "_That,_" the creature said again, pointing at the car. Winnie had simply turned to the car, reaching a hand towards it, lifting it from the ground, and then her brow had crinkled as she swiftly clenched her outstretched hand into a fist, causing the wreck of a car to fold in half.

The creature had made a roaring noise that actually sounded pleased, and then pointed at a bench, which Winnie subsequently moved, shattering it into pieces. Thus began a nearly 15 minute long game of sorts, as the green monster would point at anything that caught its eye, and Winnie would lift the object and rip it to shreds. Everyone else carried on with communication with Fury, greeting the National Guard, other military, the police, and a hoard of SHIELD agents as they poured into the area, while Winnie walked closer and closer to the Hulk. Soon they looked like mismatched friends as she laughed at its reactions to her ability.

Steve hung back, watching with his own growing amusement as the Hulk got a slightly devious expression on its face and pointed at Tony, who was still in the suit, standing with his back to them, talking earnestly to Natasha and an army general. Winnie had stifled her laughter, and, to Steve's disbelief, had elbowed the creature good naturedly, raising her eyebrows to make sure it was paying attention. It grunted and she stretched her hands out towards Tony and he shot off the ground, rose into the air, flipped upside down and yelped angrily when he realized what had happened and why.

"For god's sake Win," he'd griped from the air while she and the green creature killed themselves laughing. Hulk reached up and grabbed Tony and tossed him to the ground. Shortly thereafter, Banner was back and Steve thought Winnie was a little disappointed that their game was over.

Now, making a mountain of pancakes, Steve smiled a little, at the memory, and at the sound of Winnie chuckling quietly at something Banner told her. _We should have done this months ago, _he thought ruefully to himself, enjoying the sound and familiarity of her laughter and presence, _they'd have been safer and it's just better this way._

Winnie and Banner walked over to the kitchen again, Winnie grabbing her coffee and Banner getting himself a mug, sniffing the air appreciatively as he did. "Smells good man," Bruce told him, and Steve glanced over and nodded, a small smile on his face. Bruce disappeared back to the table and Steve glanced over to see him and Winnie sitting with their coffees at the tables in the center of the room. He turned back to the pancakes, deciding he was likely going to need to make more batter.

He idly wondered where Bucky might be, _probably sleeping, _when he heard Winnie's happy greeting of Sam, her chair sliding back as she climbed to her feet. Then he heard a sharp gasp and the splashing crash of her mug of coffee hitting the ground.

"_You're supposed to be dead!"_ She yelled in disbelief, her voice bordering on a scream. Steve spun around at the sound of her cry and his brow lowered. _This should be interesting,_ he thought, watching as Fury walked into the room carefully, approaching Winnie slowly, with his hands in the air. She was backing away, and Steve suddenly worried that this kind of mental shock might not be good for someone who had so recently snapped.

"How?!" She cried, anger seeping into her voice, as she took another few steps back, holding a hand out to Fury like she couldn't stand to be near him. "You _died_! I watched it! And then… SHIELD! Hydra! People died! Hydra had me! And Bucky!" She reached a wall and leaned against it, her stance cautious and wary, utterly confused, but not lashing out, to Steve's relief. Fury walked closer to her, his face not guilty, just the normal even calm it normally was.

When he was a couple feet from her he nodded. "I know," he told her in his firm voice, "It was a necessary –" He never got to complete his sentence because Bucky suddenly charged into the room, furious and glaring, and snatched Fury up with his metal arm, like Fury was a doll, and hurled him across the room, away from Winnie.

Everyone started yelling and Natasha and Clint raced into the room as Winnie leapt for Bucky's arm, holding him back when he tried to go after Fury. Everyone got between Bucky and Fury and for a moment it seemed like it was about to all go terribly sideways when Banner suddenly hollered angrily, "Enough! Don't make me get pissed off here guys!"

Breathing heavily, Bucky's angry, glaring eyes slid over to Bruce and he visibly calmed down at the mention of Banner's anger.

"You had better be ready to explain yourself," Winnie growled at Fury, before turning to Bucky, her face furious, "And what the hell?" Tense silence reigned for a long moment before Clint said, "Do I smell pancakes?"

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Everyone else tentatively moved towards the kitchen, pancakes and coffee being served all around. Winnie took the opportunity to drag Bucky further down the hallway. He stared steadily at her and she took a deep breath, trying to control her urge to freak out at him.

"You know now he wasn't trying to hurt me right?" She asked him her tone rigid. Bucky nodded at her. "I woke to hear you yelling," he answered her, his tone flat, "And then I came out here to find you cornered, with no one assisting you." Winnie blinked at him, trying to see this from his stand point. These were her friends, not his, and they only just yesterday discovered that someone had betrayed them. She wasn't exactly pleased that he had reacted so violently, but she realized she could understand why he had.

"Thank you," she said softly, surprising him, she knew. His eyes widened slightly and he gave her a suspicious look. "You're not angry?" He asked her warily. She shrugged and leaned in to give him a hug. "It was rash, but I get it," she replied. Bucky smiled at her and then she immediately hissed, "But you _are _going to apologize." Bucky took a step back.

"No," he responded stubbornly. Winnie blinked, "Bucky, really? You attacked him for no reason!" She cried. He crossed his arms over his chest, the metal one clacking and whirring slightly. "No," Bucky said. Winnie clenched her teeth and waved a hand at him.

"Why 'no'?" She asked him. Bucky levelled an even stare at her. "I would do it again, because until we know who betrayed us to Hydra, I will trust no one, not with your life," his response was firm and she searched his eyes for a long moment. "You are so infuriating sometimes," she finally told him. He surprised her by laughing a little.

"You love it," he told her, his voice lower than before, his eyes regarding her intently, sliding down her sleep-clothes-clad frame, "You look very appealing when you are angry." Winnie rolled her eyes at the sudden shift the conversation had taken, at his ability to so swiftly change his mood and demeanor whenever he decided he was finished with an emotion. She was also mildly irritated with him for being able to duck out of her being angry with him, yet again – it was something she was learning he was just as skilled at as the old Bucky used to be.

"You're impossible," she managed to say as he drew her closer, leaning his face into her neck. "Its fine," he murmured against her pulse point and she chuckled a little.

"At the very least explain to them _why _you did it, if you won't apologize," she said softly, persistently. Bucky groaned and leaned away, meeting her gaze. He looked back and forth between her eyes for a moment before rolling his eyes slightly. "Will you stop being angry if I do that?" He asked her, tilting his head slightly to the side.

She sighed and nodded and he went back to her neck again. "Bucky," she murmured, "Bucky, stop." He leaned back and shot her a lightly frustrated look. "I really need to get back in there and find out why the hell Fury isn't dead, this is a bad time for you to… be like this," she said, putting both her hands on his arms. He sighed quietly and shot her a hopeful look. "And afterwards?" He asked her.

Winnie chuckled and nodded and he reluctantly stepped back from her, waving back down the hallway to the area everyone else was gathered in. "Go," he told her, his tone flattening seriously, "Go now before I change my mind." She shook her head at him and they made their way back into the open area.

Everyone looked up from where they were seated around the table. Chairs had been pulled in from the desks and other points in the room and two empty ones sat one end of the table; as far from where Fury was sitting as possible, she noted. Silently, she and Bucky grabbed coffee and served themselves heaping plates of pancakes, before taking the empty seats. A tense quiet permeated the room, the sounds of eating being the only noise in the room.

"Well, isn't this unpleasant?" Natasha asked bluntly, and it broke the tension. Bucky dropped his fork with a clatter and locked his gaze on Fury. Winnie couldn't help but notice how everyone else tensed up, and wanted to scold them. "She was yelling, that was all I could hear, and there were elevated levels of stress in her voice," Bucky began, almost robotically, "You had her cornered. My reaction was warranted, though apparently unnecessary."

Silence fell over the room again, and Bucky turned back to his food, his task completed. Fury surprised them by let out a rough chuckle. "Understood," he told Bucky. Bucky didn't look up, merely nodded curtly as he continued to shovel in his food. Bruce and Sam got up and began clearing plates, and Natasha and Clint moved over to the computer terminals.

"So, I'm assuming you have some questions," Fury began, and Winnie kept her eyes on him, nodding. "I was never dead, not that he," Fury gestured at Bucky, "Didn't put enough effort into the task." Winnie met Steve's eyes and saw that he didn't look happy. _So, Fury stepped on some toes with his fake-out,_ she thought with interest, wondering just how much people trusted their former director.

"You can't kill what's already dead," Fury explained, "And there were things that needed to be done, things that needed to be taken care of and looked into."

"You realize that Hydra will kill you if they learned that I failed," Bucky commented easily, pushing his plate away from himself. Fury raised an eyebrow at him and nodded. "I'm sure they will," Fury replied calmly, "Which is why, most people continue to think I'm dead."

"You knew," Winnie said slowly, her eyes dragging from her coffee up to Fury's face, "You knew where we were." Fury stared back at her, his face expressionless, and she was suddenly angry again. "Who did you tell?" She asked him loudly, "Who knows about Bucky and I?" She leaned on the table and pointed at him, "_Who did you tell about us?"_

Steve suddenly whipped his head in Fury's direction, his eyebrows drawing together. "That's a really good question," Natasha said from behind them, her casual tone not hiding enough of her sudden suspicion. "One you need to answer immediately," Bucky said in a low voice.

Fury took in a deep breath and nodded, clearly not happy. "I know about what happened yesterday," he told them all, "There was a breach, someone knew something they shouldn't have and word spread."

"They almost had us!" Winnie yelled. There was a clatter in the kitchen; her cry had obviously startled someone. "They would have dragged me back to their labs, experimented on me, done god knows what to me!" She continued furiously, "They would have killed Bucky! They would have done things to my mind, turned me against you! Do you understand what that would mean? For you? For everyone?" The plates began to shudder on the table, and she felt Bucky's cool metal hand rest on her back, a silent entreaty for her to be calm.

Winnie clenched her teeth and took several deep breaths, allowing Bucky's hand to slide to her hip and urge her to sit down. Fury still said nothing and Steve got up from the table in disgust. "Who did you tell?" He asked Fury, his voice so hard and serious that Winnie hardly recognized it. Fury looked up at Steve, and then briefly around the room, where he was met with suspicious, unfriendly stares from everyone in it. He sighed in frustration.

"The new director of SHIELD, I told him," Fury finally spat out, "The breach must have occurred there."

"_New director?_" Natasha asked in an upset tone, getting to her feet and marching over to stand next to Winnie's seat, "I thought the deal was that SHIELD, and with it, Hydra, were dissolved, gone, broken up." Fury raised both eyebrows and frowned. "Hydra merely retreated to lick their wounds for a while, that's all, they haven't dissolved," Fury said, his voice even, "And neither did SHIELD; the world still needs SHIELD."

"For goddsake, Nick," Natasha said, before spinning on her heel and going back to the desks. She threw herself down in a chair and exchanged a look with Clint before shaking her head and clicking away at the computer in front of her again. "So, just as before, it's evident that SHIELD learned nothing and Hydra still has moles in it," Steve stated. Fury shrugged.

"I can't be certain of that," he began, before Winnie got to her feet in a rush. "You can't be certain," she deadpanned, disbelief heavy in her tones, "I would say it's all _but _certain that's _exactly_ what's happened here."

"We need to visit this new SHIELD and find out where the leak is, and plug it," Bucky commented reasonably. All eyes turned to him and he looked around placidly. "It is the correct choice, the only choice, because our location will not be the only information leaked, there will be more, always more," Bucky explained, "It will not end until they eradicate all that is left of SHIELD, of you, the Avenger's."

Silence reigned again and Winnie suddenly laughed drily at the notion of being dragged back into SHIELDs messes, again. She felt flustered when everyone turned to stare at her and shrugged. "He's right, we need to go and visit SHIELD," she said, her eyes locking onto Fury, "And we need to go immediately." The silence grew thicker and tenser in the room until Fury broke it.

"You can't all go, there are _other things_," he said meaningfully, looking over at Steve, "Other things that must be dealt with."

"What are you suggesting?" Steve questioned him with authority, striding closer to Fury. The former director got to his feet and took a couple steps towards the door. "I will have an agent I trust come and escort you," he said, pointing at Winnie, "To the new location." Bucky shot to his feet immediately, ready to explode, and Fury waved a hand at him.

"You too, Barnes," Fury told him. Bucky seemed pleased with that and immediately sat down again. "That's not enough, I'm not going to allow it," Steve told him flatly. Winnie looked over at him and realized he was speaking not as a SHIELD agent, not even as Captain America, but as her leader, their leader, the leader of the Avengers. _We're aren't SHIELD anymore, not the people in this room,_ she realized, understanding now why Fury was protecting what was left of SHIELD, _and if we aren't SHIELD then we aren't to be fully trusted with SHIELD secrets any longer._

Steve looked over at Sam and then over to Natasha. "You two will go with them," he ordered them, and Winnie was pleased that neither of them argued. "Rogers, you don't understand –" Fury began heatedly, but Steve's brow lowered and he took an angry step forwards. "No, you don't," he shot back, the authority still ringing in his words, "These aren't your people any more Nick, those weren't your secrets to share, and if that's a problem, we can show you the door."

Fury's jaw clenched and he finally nodded curtly. "Fine, I'll make the call," he said shortly, before turning around and leaving the room in a flourish. Winnie blinked at Steve, a little shocked by how quickly it had all turned around. "Thanks," she told him softly and he smiled.

"If you guys are going, it's not as agents of SHIELD," he told her and Bucky, walking closer to them, leaning against the table. "What do you mean?" Bucky asked flatly. Steve smiled at him and then turned the growing grin to Winnie before saying, "You'll need to suit up."

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They stood in the small room and stared down at the neat piles of garments on the large table that took up half the space. Winnie reached a tentative hand out and stroked it over her uniform lightly. She hadn't worn it since the day she flew home from Russia with Natasha and Rumlow.

"How?" Was all she asked, her voice quiet. Steve replied from behind her, "You had a lot of them, this one is from our storage locker." She turned to him in surprise. "It's the original one?" She asked in disbelief, and Steve nodded. Winnie glanced over and saw Natasha snatch up her pile of clothing like she was afraid someone would take it. The look on her face stunned Winnie for a moment. The redhead's expression was wary and yet slightly hungry, like she couldn't wait to wear the Black Widow gear again, and was simultaneously ashamed of the fact that she was so eager.

Natasha turned and left the room and Steve nodded at Winnie. "Take your time," he told her, "I know it might be unfamiliar; you won't be going anywhere for a while yet anyways." Steve cast a worried look over at Bucky, who had his back to them as he stood in front of all the accoutrements of the Winter Soldier. As soon as he had laid eyes on it all, he'd moved to stand in front of it and then hadn't moved since.

Winnie followed Steve's gaze and she bit her lip, wondering if it was wise for Bucky to be expected to wear it again. Steve had explained that they had gathered all of Bucky's gear off the floor of Steve's bedroom, where he'd changed shortly after Bucky and Winnie arrived at her and Steve's old apartment, that first day after everything went down.

"Why?" Winnie had asked, her voice still slightly far away at the sight of Nomad folded up neatly in front of her. "I just thought it was a good idea, to keep it all together, it's not just regular clothing," Steve had answered.

Now Steve put a gentle hand to her back and nodded at her, before leaving the room, closing the door after himself. Winnie watched Bucky and reached for him tentatively, placing her hand on his shoulder. His muscles were rock hard, so tense she wondered if he was in pain. She yanked her hand back in alarm when Bucky suddenly whirled around to look at her, his face tormented.

It wasn't anger there, or sadness, or confusion. It was fear. "Bucky," she breathed out, reaching for him again. His eyes moved to hers and she felt something crack in her chest. "I can't," he murmured, "I can't." She nodded and reached for him, pulling him closer to herself by his metal hand. He stared down at where their hands were joined and ripped the limb from her grasp. His breathing was getting heavier, as his eyes grew wilder.

"Bucky, please," she said softly, "It's alright, you can wear anything you like." He looked up at her and licked his lips, a pleading expression on his face. "I won't be the asset," he told her quietly, "I won't be Hydra again." She shook her head and stepped towards him, grabbing his arm and holding tightly, refusing to let go when he tried to pull away.

"Come here," she said firmly, yanking him towards herself, away from the Winter Soldier 'uniform'. He moved jerkily, but came to stand before her. She boosted herself up onto the table and sat on the edge, putting her head a little more evenly with his own.

"You aren't a monster," she told him, "No matter what you wear, you aren't a monster; nothing can make you that again."

"Hydra could," he mumbled and she grabbed his face between her hands, pushing his hair out of the way and holding him gently. "Hydra won't," she growled, her voice utterly unbreakable, "They won't. I won't ever allow it."

"What if," Bucky began haltingly, "What if it's like before, if I put it on, and I become him, the _Soldier_, the asset? The one from before, the mindless one. If it makes me remember and he wakes up." She was shaking her head before he could finish.

"Don't you see?" She asked him softly, "He _did_ wake up, he realized what they were doing to him, we got through to him, and he pulled himself away. You _are_ him, Bucky, not a mindless monster, but a prisoner of war who finally got free." His pained eyes met hers and she saw the slight widening of them, the brief flaring of hope.

"You really believe that?" He asked her. She nodded. "I really do," she answered, "If you really don't want to wear it, we'll find something else. But if I'm being perfectly honest with you, it's likely the most useful gear for you – it was made to fit you and the way you move, the way you fight – it's not just a uniform, it's armor, it's protection. You'll be safer in it, and be able to do everything more smoothly because of it. Despite how much you hate what they made you do while wearing it before, you _have_ worn it before; it won't get in the way."

His eyes searched back and forth between hers the entire time she was speaking, and she knew the notion of the outfit being worn for utility rather than for image or symbolism was easier for him to handle. "Let's take our stuff and go back to our room and get ready, and if you don't like it, if you really can't stand it, then we'll get something else. It's that simple," she reassured him. He nodded, his expression loosening in something like relief.

"Alright," he responded quietly. Winnie was careful to gather everything up and watched as he gingerly lifted his own things and they walked back to their small room fairly quickly. Bucky dumped his armload on the bed and stepped back, watching as she put her own things down. She stared at him, at how tense he was, and decided they both need to relax, to recharge, to calm down and reboot.

She smiled at him, letting a hint of coy teasing leak into her expression. His own face brightened slightly and this time she was relieved at how easily his moods could change. "I think," she said softly, taking the few steps towards him, "That you and I need to take a shower."

He smiled a little at her and leaned towards her when she grabbed the fabric of his shirt at the shoulders and tugged him down towards her. "A shower," he repeated, his tone quiet, but not unhappy. She nodded and pulled him a little closer, his face coming within inches of her own.

"Yes, a shower," she whispered, "I promised you a reward earlier, didn't I?"


	2. Chapter 2 - The Playground

**Chapter Two – The Playground**

_Avengers Assemble,_ Winnie though wryly, glancing to her right, taking in the sight of Black Widow fussing with her belt, the Winter Soldier yawning behind his metal hand, and the Falcon joking with Steve. She pulled at the neck of her blue jacket, trying to adjust to the feel of it all over again. The five of them were standing outside of the dam, waiting for the agent Fury said he had called to come pick them up.

Everyone else had remained inside and only Steve stood waiting with them outside, dressed like a civilian. When they heard the loud noise of an approaching aircraft, Bucky took a small step towards her and she turned to look up at him, giving him a tight-lipped smile. She was very proud of him, for dressing as the Winter Soldier, even if the effect of him in the gear was rather unsettling at first. Steve and Natasha had each taken an unconscious step back from him when she and he had appeared in the open area, fully dressed in their gear.

"Jesus, man," Clint had said from the computers, climbing to his feet and walking over to Natasha's side, putting a hand to her arm, a small gesture of comfort that didn't go unnoticed by Winnie, "You look utterly terrifying."

"Don't mince words, or anything Clint," Winnie had mumbled. Bucky had only swallowed and then glowered at Clint. Sam, after casting wary looks at Bucky, had stepped towards Winnie, a grin growing on his face as he gestured at her own uniform. "That's pretty cool, Win," he said lightly, smiling with one side of his mouth. Winnie couldn't keep the small smile from her own face and nodded at him.

"Nomad," Sam added, eyeing her up and down, "Only saw this on TV until now." Winnie had glanced over to Steve, who was staring at her steadily. "Let's go outside," he'd told them all.

Now, as the obviously SHIELD-owned jet landed in the open gravelled space in front of the dam, Steve moved to stand in front of the four of them. "You're going to find out where the leak occurred, and that's it," he told them firmly, "Nothing more, nothing less: find the leak and fix it, then come back – you aren't SHIELD, not anymore." Bucky had cleared his throat and Steve had smirked, continuing with, "Not that all of you were before, but you get my point."

Winnie could feel her hair settle about her head when the jet finally shut down and they watched as the door opened and Agent May climbed out. Winnie took several involuntarily steps towards her former instructor, a grin forming on her face.

"Agent May!" She greeted the woman delightedly. For her part May shot her a firm-eyed smirk and nodded. "Nomad," she responded. Winnie rolled her eyes, the familiar ripple of her hated code name flowing through her. "You're our escort?" Natasha asked, stepping to Winnie's side, "Should've known you'd still be SHIELD."

One of Agent's Mays eyebrows cocked up slightly and she nodded, before her features flickered in mild shock at the sight of Bucky, who strode forward to stand next to Winnie. "It's true then," May deadpanned, her gaze dragging slowly from his heavily booted feet, up his legs and to the metal arm.

"Yeah, but he's on our side now," Sam commented easily, as he and Steve stepped forward. "Captain Rogers," May said stiffly, standing to attention. Steve nodded at her. "Agent May, glad to see you made it through," he told her. She nodded and waved a hand back at the jet. "We need to leave, immediately," she told them, "Can't stay on the ground for long and don't want to attract attention to this place."

Steve turned to them and eyed each of them in turn. "Remember, there and back," he ordered them. Sam nodded and moved up the stairs swiftly, Bucky following on his heels. Natasha eyed Steve critically. "Hold it together here," she said softly, as Agent May boarded the jet as well. Steve smirked. "Always do," he responded. Natasha glanced back at Winnie and then climbed aboard.

Winnie gave Steve a small smile as she made to board the plane and he stopped her, a hand grasping her upper arm. "Winnie," he said quietly, turning her around, "Hold it together out there." She glared at him and pulled her arm from his grip. "What's that mean?" She hissed in irritation. Steve rolled his eyes.

"You know exactly what I mean," he chided her, "After yesterday… Winnie, SHIELD isn't our enemy, we don't play on the same team anymore, but we're all on the same side." She eyed him critically and tilted her head to one side. "What side is that, Steve?" She asked him sharply.

"The right one," he responded immediately, "The one that protects."

"And if that side can't protect us?" She asked him, her voice low. Steve took in a deep breath. "They aren't the enemy," he urged her, "An individual there might be, but SHIELD isn't, May isn't." Winnie grimaced and looked away. "I hear what you're saying, don't worry," she reassured him, before her voice hardened and she continued, "But don't think for a second that I won't do absolutely _anything_ to get the four of us out safely, if needed."

Steve regarded her carefully and nodded. "This should be easy," he murmured and she put a gloved hand on his arm, squeezing slightly. "It should be, but I just can't trust SHIELD, Steve, they had their chance, and they blew it," she told him carefully.

"Winnie, the mission is –" Steve began, his voice growing heated before Winnie straightened her spine and glared at him. "This is no mission," she growled, "This is self-preservation." With that she spun away from him and boarded the jet, pressing the panel to close the door behind herself. She took a seat next to Bucky, strapping herself in. As the jet took off, Winnie glanced out the window and saw Steve still standing there, a hand shielding his eyes from the dust kicked up. He looked worried and slightly angry.

"_Uspokoit'sya,_" Bucky told her softly in Russian, a phrase she recognized as 'calm down'. She smiled over at him and the corner of his mouth twitched up briefly in response. Natasha snorted across from them and Winnie rolled her eyes at the woman.

"What can we expect?" Winnie asked loudly, towards the cockpit area where May sat. "What do you mean?" May responded calmly, "You can expect the usual, on a smaller scale." Winnie took in a deep breath. "How much did Fury tell you?" Natasha said.

"How much did Fury tell _you?_" May shot back. Bucky shifted in irritation next to her. She put a hand on his knee and squeezed, urging him to calm himself down. She knew that despite his prior status as the Winter Soldier, as a Hydra asset, he had no patience for things like this – subterfuge, secrets, and lies; none of this sat well with his straight forward, often blunt nature.

"You betrayed us," Bucky responded, his voice hard. "I did nothing," May said to him, glancing over her shoulder and regarding him blankly. "Don't play dumb," Bucky growled, "You know what I mean – a breach occurred and it was through your people, your organization." May nodded briefly and pressed at a few buttons.

"I know," she answered simply and Natasha's gaze twitched across the aisle, her eyes narrowing. "You know it?" The Black Widow asked archly, "What have you done about it?"

"We're still working on that," May said in response, "It's an ongoing issue, among other things." _Other things?_ Winnie thought, not liking the sound of that. She caught Sam's eye across the way and wondered if he felt as out of his depth as she did. "You will speak to the director when we arrive, he'll explain this all to you; it's not my place or my call," Agent May told them all, her tone flat.

Winnie settled back in her seat, reaching up to readjust her goggles where they sat on top of her head. Natasha was regarding her calmly, and then she turned to Bucky suddenly and began to speak to him in Russian, her tones instructive and firm. Winnie glanced over to Sam again and he just shrugged.

"Don't look at me, I took Spanish in high school," he told her. She smiled a little and then looked over to Bucky as he replied to Natasha, also in Russian. Their conversation carried on for a few more moments until he nodded and turned to Winnie, his features set.

She knew they were discussing something that they didn't want Agent May to know, and everyone on the jet was aware of that fact, including May. Bucky leaned towards her and put his mouth directly to her ear, speaking so quietly that she had to strain and focus hard over the rumbling of the aircraft to hear him.

"Natasha thinks we need a display of control, power," Bucky's breath was warm inside her ear and she repressed the urge to shiver, "We don't separate for any reason." Winnie nodded without looking over at him and he continued, "You can provide us with the show of force we need." Winnie turned then, his face very close to hers, and she regarded his eyes, looking back and forth. She nodded again and he leaned closer, speaking into her ear again.

"If anything goes sideways, Natasha says she will signal us to leave and you will provide the exit if we are unable to access it," he told her, "No one is to touch you for any reason, she thinks they may attempt to stun or tranquilize you if things go badly, and she wants to ensure you stay alert and with us." Winnie swallowed, her eyes moving to Natasha. The Black Widow regarded her with hard eyes, and Winnie held the electrifying gaze for a long moment.

"I will," she said aloud. Natasha nodded and turned to Sam, grabbing his arm and yanking him towards herself, pressing her mouth to his ear. Sam looked startled and then uncomfortable before his features locked down and he started nodding.

"If you're all done sharing secrets, we're almost there," May said drily, the entire exchange not lost on her.

"Good," Bucky said flatly.

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It was an airplane hangar like anywhere else, but on their approach he'd noted that the facility itself was well concealed, well hidden – it looked like an aging metal structure barely clinging to use. _Appropriate, _Bucky thought, _for an organization doing the same._ He was concerned about their means of exit in such a facility, when they finally exited the jet. The outside looked dingy and falling apart, but the inside was reinforced, guarded, protected and shielded.

He glanced over at Winnie who was standing alert and erect at his side, her goggles obscuring his view of her eyes and the top half of her face. She was turning her head minutely back and forth, taking it all in, and he noticed her fists slowly clenching and unclenching, as she likely tested the durability and movability of the hangar around them. Natasha stood close to Winnie's other side, her eyes similarly cutting about the room, her stance casual. He knew better, he'd seen footage of her battling in New York, even battling himself in DC; she was lethal even at rest.

He noted Sam stepping in behind Winnie, with approval, the three of them trying not to make her stand out, but also preventing her from standing alone. They were each aware that if things went badly, Winnie would be their only way out, their only means of escape. Bucky watched as Agent May greeted a pair of men who approached them.

"This is Agent Antoine Triplett and…" Agent May introduced the stern looking black man, who nodded officially at them, and then held her hand out to the second man and paused, clearly uncertain how to introduce the man. The second took it upon himself, stepping forward and extending a hand to Natasha.

"Lance Hunter, call me Hunter" he said amiably, "Not an agent." Natasha stared down at his hand and then extended hers like she was royalty. This amused Bucky, even as Hunter's face twisted mildly at the lukewarm reception from Natasha. Agent May stood stone faced and gestured at the rest of them.

"This is –" She began, before Sam cut her off. "Black Widow," he said, gesturing at Natasha. "Nomad," he continued pointing at Winnie, and then he waved a hand at Bucky, his expression flickering briefly with hesitation. "And the uh…" Sam trailed off, clearly not certain if he should be speaking.

"The Winter Soldier," Winnie said sharply. She barely moved her head as she looked back and forth between the two new arrivals. Bucky noticed that she seemed repeatedly drawn to Agent Tripplet.

"Why do I know you Agent Triplett?" She finally asked after a tense moment of silence. The Agent blinked and straightened his spine, regarding her curiously. "I couldn't say," he responded firmly, even as his eyes glanced over to Bucky again and again. There was recognition there and it made Bucky uncomfortable because it wasn't the frightened tense recognition of someone seeing the Winter Soldier. _Did he know Bucky Barnes? How is that possible?_

Winnie stepped closer to Agent Tripplet and pulled her goggles up to rest on top of her head. Tripplet's eyes widened when he saw her face. "You," he said, his tone startled, "You're Winnie Johnson." She blinked at him and then stiffened. "I know why you look so familiar," she said softly, taking another step towards him, "You're related somehow, to Gabe Jones, aren't you?"

Bucky took a step forward, involuntarily, at the mention of the Howling Commando's name, a name he had heard Winnie and Steve say repeatedly as they watched old promos and looked at old pictures. Bucky clearly remembered the name from the Smithsonian. The resemblance was uncanny.

Tripplet nodded at Winnie's words. "He was my grandfather," he told her, before swinging his eyes to Bucky. "And you," the man continued on in a fairly disbelieving voice, "You're –" Bucky took another step forward, this one firm and commanding.

"I am not who you think I am," Bucky told the man in a blank voice. Tripplet shook his head and looked back to Winnie. "I never thought I'd get to meet you," Tripplet finally said, "You're supposed to be dead."

"A lot of people are, that seems to be a running theme these days," Winnie replied, and Hunter suddenly started laughing. "You can say that again," the man said in a light tone, before grunting when Agent May smacked him in the side with casual violence.

"Well, this has all been very fascinating," Natasha said drily, "But unless either of you is the new director of SHIELD, it's time for us to go see him." Agent May seemed to remember herself and nodded at Agent Tripplet. "Take them to him," she said flatly, receiving a curt nod in return. Bucky, Natasha, and Sam closed rank around Winnie again as they followed Agent Tripplet and Hunter.

As they walked towards the first door, Winnie pulled down her goggles again and the door flew open in front of them on its own. Both of their escorts flinched hard at it, and Agent Tripplet cast a wary glance back at Winnie. She kept her face flat and Bucky again felt inner amusement. As they walked down the halls, any people they came across were firmly pulled flat against the walls by their clothing, most of them letting out worried squawks of dismay.

He was impressed with her, impressed with her control, and the subtle display of power and command she was letting ripple out around them. When they came to a stop outside an office door at the back of the facility, Agent Tripplet turned to look at them but Winnie stepped abruptly past him, throwing open the door swiftly and stepping into the office. Bucky shoved past their escorts to follow her and ran into her, knocking her a step forward when she suddenly stopped stock still.

"Hi, Winnie," the pleasant faced man behind the desk said, turning to see them. Bucky glanced down at Winnie's face and saw her slack-jawed and stunned, and even though the goggles covered her eyes, he knew she was seeing something she hadn't expected. Winnie's mouthed opened and closed as she tried to speak and Natasha barged into the room behind them, shoving Bucky out of the way and then jerking to a halt herself. She had no problem finding words.

"Coulson? You're supposed to be dead."

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"Does nobody die anymore?" Winnie said, her voice still disbelieving. Coulson smiled at her briefly, raising an eyebrow as he did. Winnie noticed he seemed perfectly calm, which she thought was out of place, considering the visitors he had right now.

"Please, all of you, take a seat," Coulson said, gesturing at the conference table and seats at one end of his large office. Winnie gingerly lowered herself into an office chair, noting Natasha and Bucky taking seats on either side of her, their postures so tense they hardly looked capable of the movement. Sam didn't sit, he leaned against the wall nearest to the door, casually lounging, though Winnie knew the decision to do so was anything but casual.

"I watched Loki stab you," Winnie said flatly when Coulson took a seat across the table from them.

"I heard Fury call it," Natasha added, her tone not letting on to what might be in her head.

"I did die," Coulson responded easily, "But Fury had me… well, he had me brought back with some extreme measures that we are still dealing with now." Winnie didn't know what to think so she just nodded. Bucky shifted next to her, raising his metal arm up to rest on the table. It landed heavily and proceeded to make a series of clicking and slight buzzing noises. Coulson's eyes were drawn to it and then up to the angry glare on Bucky's face.

"Hydra caught up to us, found us, because of you," Bucky said bluntly and tersely, his metal hand curling into a fist, "It's been almost a year since SHIELD fell, and we have hidden away with no problems, until somebody made the mistake of sharing intel with you and your shoddy organization." Winnie didn't turn to look at Bucky, even though she thought he was perhaps approaching this a little more aggressively than needed.

"We did have a breach," Coulson admitted firmly, "One of my own, Agent Grant Ward, someone I trusted, was Hydra – we had him in captivity here with us, and then we… traded him, to a member of the government, and he escaped in their hands. He killed a lot of people. Somehow he made his way back to Hydra."

"With information about myself and Bucky," Winnie murmured, and Coulson looked to her and nodded. "I had one conversation with Fury about the two of you, about the fact that Nomad was alive, and the Winter Soldier was with her, and was now an ally," Coulson explained, "My error was having this conversation on my line that saves conversations for use in the future. Somehow after Ward escaped, he got his hands on some files, some information, that recording including – we are still working to correct that breach, to determine how much more he knew."

"You knew he had sensitive information about an Avenger and did nothing to warn any of us?" Natasha asked in dry disbelief, as if his stupidity was too much for her, "SHIELD is nothing, Coulson, what little you have running underground here is nothing more than a death rattle – the Avengers are real, very real, and you of all people should have known to warn us."

Coulson shook his head, even as Winnie was nodding hers; every word out of Natasha's mouth was true. "Do you realize the magnitude of what would happen if Hydra were to get their hands on her?" Bucky asked harshly, "We still don't know the extent of her abilities, but Hydra was fairly certain about all that she could be capable of, and none of it is anything that we want twisted and turned around back onto us."

Winnie shifted uncomfortably, not enjoying the discussion about what an utter nightmare she would be on the enemy's side. Coulson nodded. "I do understand, but I couldn't just pick up a phone and give Stark a call, or shoot Captain Rogers an email," Coulson replied, "I'm still dead, the majority of the world thinks I'm dead, and that is how it remains for now – I informed Fury that we had a potential breach, and that was the end of it – we are still working on retrieving Ward, bringing him back into custody, as well as bringing down the branch of Hydra he is working with."

"Who?" Natasha asked sharply, and Coulson got up, walked to his desk, and grabbed a thick file, dropping it down on the table. Winnie got to her feet and tore the goggles from her head, thumping them down to the table as she saw the thick, aged file.

"SSR," she breathed, running a hand over the emblem on the outside of the file. She pulled the file closer to herself and remained standing. There was a slip of paper clipped to the outside of the file that read: "Whitehall – modern alias?" Her fingers clasped around the edge of the front cover of the file, and she glanced up to Coulson.

"He's a sick bastard," Coulson said simply, "Somehow, Whitehall has managed to defy aging, and we don't know how. And he needs to be stopped." His eyes evaluated her before shooting over to Bucky briefly. Winnie nodded and flipped open the cover of the file. The picture of the man inside brought the defensive barriers in her mind down into a rubbled ruin. All her work to bury the memories, the horrors of the things that happened to her when Hydra first got their hands on her, over 70 years prior, was turned to ash in a second when she saw his cold face looking back at her.

Winnie dropped the edge of the file folder and backed up, her face feeling cold and her lips gone numb. She began to shake her head in denial, and backed up further, nearly tripping over her chair as she made to get away from his face. _Reinhardt, Reinhardt, Reinhardt. _Memories of pain and fear came back to her. Helpless entrapment. A craving for death. The man who destroyed her, and turned her into something inhuman, the man who ruined her. The man who haunted her worst nightmares with his sick smile, even now.

"Discovery requires experimentation," she whispered in a rasp, hardly even aware she had done so, jerking away when Bucky reached for her, his face twisted in sudden worried concern.

"You knew him?" Coulson asked in worry, climbing to his feet and glancing around as the room began to shake. Winnie felt a part of her mind, the rational part that was screaming at her to sit down and get control of herself, being shoved further and further back, while the dark part of her mind, where her nightmares and horrible memories lived, lit up and washed over everything else.

"Reinhardt," she managed to say out loud, causing Natasha to jerk around in her seat to face her in complete horror. "Winnie, you need to be calm, immediately," Natasha said in heavy warning, climbing to her feet and approaching Winnie, "Steve told me, I know, I understand; but you _must_ be calm." Things began to crack around them and Winnie could feel the dizzy loss of control inside her. She glanced to Bucky's eyes and saw the torment for her in them; Steve had obviously told him about what Reinhardt had done to her too.

_They don't know it all, they can't, I couldn't say it, couldn't tell them everything._ That hadn't stopped doctors, Tony, and even her sleeping self to divulge enough information to help Steve put together a lot of it. Her scars told a story, her mumbles and screams in the night, her reactions to certain words or objects. If Natasha and Bucky were both reacting this way now, Winnie knew that Steve had put together a fairly good picture of it, of her time with Hydra, and he had told them. _They should be worried._

The memories, the fear, were overwhelming, and just before she fully submitted what was left of her rational mind to them, Natasha lunged at her, wrapping an arm around Winnie's neck as if to hug her. Natasha's face was right next to hers and she whispered, "Sorry," in Winnie's ear, before Winnie felt something small pierce the skin at the base of her throat and a warm sensation flowed heavily through her.

Distantly she heard Bucky yelling, and then she was sinking, Natasha's arms around her as she was lowered gently to the floor, and then Winnie was greeted with a wall of darkness which pushed her fear away and left her with nothing.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

She was lucky to be alive. Bucky glared again at the Black Widow, straining to keep from killing her. Coulson and Sam had each held guns to him after Natasha stuck Winnie with a powerful sedative and he'd lunged at the redhead, grabbing her neck and throwing her off Winnie, halfway across the room.

He'd pinned her by her slender neck to the wall and her hard eyes had moved back and forth between his own. "Barnes," the woman had said in a flat, through slightly strained voice, "I _had_ to, you know I did." He'd clenched his teeth harder together, and fought every instinct that said to kill her.

"_Had to?"_ He'd snarled in Russian. She didn't make a move against him, and even though he could feel a gun pressed into the back of his head, he didn't release her.

"_She was going to lose control,"_ Natasha responded in the same language, "_We aren't among friends here, that kind of reaction from her would have endangered us all." _Bucky had strained against the urge to snap her neck, and took a deep breath, allowing her words to filter through his mind.

"_Steve told me to bring the sedative, in case we needed it," _the Widow continued, and Bucky released her abruptly. "_You lie,"_ he growled in a low voice, "_He would never suggest this." _She shook her head and glanced over his shoulder to the men behind him, shaking her head minutely. The gun left the back of his head and she looked back to his eyes.

"_To save her life? He would, and you know it," _she shot back, "_If we let her break down and destroy this place around us, they would have no choice but to put her down, and we would all suffer in the attempt to prevent that."_

Bucky took several deep breaths and turned from her, moving back to Winnie and bending to scoop her up off the ground. Her head lolled back on his arm when he lifted her and he saw the small red mark on her neck from where Natasha had stuck her with the sedative. He turned back to a now wary Coulson, and watched Sam move to Natasha's side, putting a hand on her arm and asking if she was fine.

"Does someone care to explain what that was all about?" Coulson asked, and Bucky clenched his teeth, feeling his lips pull together angrily. "She needs to recover, it will only last for a little while," Natasha said instead, "Take us somewhere she can rest and I will explain some of this." Coulson seemed to detect the order beneath her words and nodded. They left the room, pushing past the startled people gathered outside and Bucky tried to ignore the stares he was getting walking down the hall with an unconscious Nomad in his arms.

Coulson led them into what looked like a lounge and the people who were sitting around inside it left after Coulson waved a hand at them. Bucky carried her over to a couch and lay her down on it, crouching on the floor next to her, resting his metal hand on her brow, knowing the cool feeling of it might be better than the warmth of his hand. Behind him, he could hear Natasha briefly and succinctly explaining Reinhardt.

Coulson apparently knew all about Winnie being snatched from SSR protection, about being experimented on with the serum by Zola and Schmidt, but it was clear he had no idea about what came afterwards; the endless months of tests, then moving to a new facility when the war was over and being experimented on. Reinhardt's belief that 'discovery requires experimentation', the scars that Winnie bore as evidence of the things he did, the mental trauma that they all knew she suffered as a result of it, but that Winnie kept hidden and unspoken of most of the time.

"You plan to kill this Whitehall," Bucky finally spoke up, breaking into Coulson's worried response. The director looked over at his and raised one eyebrow. "We plan to stop him, and his people, in everything that they are doing," Coulson answered. Bucky climbed to his feet and stalked over to Coulson slowly, letting his anger show in every movement. The man didn't respond, though Bucky knew the sight of the Winter Soldier striding angrily towards you would normally be enough to make almost anyone cower.

_This man does not scare easily,_ Bucky noted, feeling something like respect for him. "He must die," Bucky said flatly, "He has the information from this Ward, he clearly intends to take her back into his custody; his work with her is not done." Bucky took a step closer and narrowed his eyes.

"He needs to die," Bucky growled, "There is no saving Hydra, there is no reforming them – they must die." Coulson narrowed his eyes and glanced over to Natasha and then Sam. Bucky was distantly pleased, that neither of them looked in disagreement with him.

"Coulson, you know he's right," Natasha added in a flat, almost soothing voice, "We can't keep letting Hydra get away. The time has come for SHIELD to end them – they can't be saved."

"Only stopped," Sam said faintly from behind them, Bucky turned back to look at him for a moment and caught the strained smile Sam threw his way.

"Are you planning on going after them?" Bucky asked and Coulson glared at him. "I'm sending a team after them because they have something they shouldn't and we have to get it back into SHIELDs custody," the director explained.

"_He takes suggestion from you better than from me,"_ Bucky said shortly to Natasha in Russian, without looking over at her, before he abruptly turned and strode back over to Winnie, crouching by her head once again. "I think you could use our help with this," Natasha said in her typical smooth way, speaking to Coulson, "I think we have as much right to end the Hydra threat that Whitehall, or Reinhardt, represents as you do, seeing how he is targeting an Avenger."

"We don't need your help," he said shortly. Bucky turned and saw Natasha square her shoulders, her brow tightening in a way that gave Coulson definite pause. "Like I said, he's targeted an Avenger; the call is no longer yours to make, don't make me call the rest of them in," Natasha delivered blankly.

"You're really going to threaten me with the Avenger's?" Coulson asked her in disbelief, and Natasha raised an eyebrow, and didn't reply, just regarded him seriously. There was a long tense moment and then Coulson waved a hand at Winnie. "How long until she's awake, and how do we know she won't fall apart again?" Coulson asked quickly.

Bucky climbed to his feet and took a step towards the man. "Her heart rate and breathing are already picking back up, she will be awake in a matter of minutes," Bucky explained shortly, "Anything more is not your concern." Glaring, Bucky took another step towards the man.

"You need to go assemble your team, and we'll be out to the hangar shortly to meet you," Bucky told Coulson in an even voice. Coulson stared at him for a long moment and finally shook his head minutely. "You really are him, aren't you?" Coulson said, slight wonderment in his voice, "It's not always easy to tell, especially from a distance, but you really are him." Coulson glanced back at Winnie and then met Bucky's eyes again.

"All of it was true, wasn't it? Back in the 40s? None of it was staged? You and she?" Coulson asked, his eyes narrowed, "It was, and memory lapse or not, it's clear there is something still between the two of you. You need to be clear on what it is we are trying to accomplish here, not revenge for her, but putting an end to a real threat."

Natasha stepped forward then. "Director Coulson," she said in a flat, official voice, "I can assure _you_ that there is nothing between Nomad and myself, or Nomad and the Falcon." She took another step towards him. "I can assure you that the threat we want to end is a very real one, and no amount of emotion would get in the way of that."

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

Winnie blinked awake and felt remarkably calm. Her eyes focused on Bucky, crouched next to her head, before turning her gaze to Natasha, who was sitting on the arm of the couch by her feet. Natasha was filing her nails. This struck Winnie as incredibly odd and she tried to sit up in a hurry. Bucky put his arm to her shoulder to stop her and Winnie looked over at him.

"How bad is it?" She asked, and Bucky shook his head, helping her sit up. "Not at all," he told her. A cup of water was suddenly in front of her, and she turned to see Sam offering it. "Thanks," she said quietly and Sam nodded, perching on the back of the couch.

"You didn't really break anything," Sam told her, "Just rattled the walls, you know? Think you scared the shit outta some of these people, which isn't really a bad thing." Winnie stared at him and then moved her eyes to Natasha. "You tranquilized me," she told the red head flatly, "After all the talk on the plane about you being worried these people would try to, _you _were the one who tranq'd me."

One of Natasha's eyebrows flickered up for a moment while she nodded, not looking away from her nail file. "Yes I did," she replied calmly. Bucky made a noise of irritation in his throat and climbed to his feet. He extended a hand to Winnie and she took it, standing up a little wobbly. "Why?" Winnie asked, before draining the rest of the water in her cup and putting the cup down on a table.

"You know why," Natasha replied, "You were snapping Winnie, not losing your temper, but about to lose your mind." Winnie opened her mouth to reply, but stopped herself, thinking about it. She felt a lot clearer headed now, thinking about Reinhardt. She knew that seeing his face again, having the memories crash down around her like a tidal wave had done something bad to her, made her lose her grip on reality.

_What did Tony call it that time? PTSD? _Winnie remembered Tony saying she and Steve likely suffered from varying degrees of post-traumatic stress, Winnie especially, given the things that had been done to her while she was a Hydra prisoner. Winnie straightened her shoulders a little, and lifted her chin, looking towards Natasha and holding the woman's bright gaze.

"Thank you," Winnie finally said, "Thanks for keeping me from doing something I'd regret." Natasha tried not to look surprised and simply nodded in return. Winnie felt a hand on her arm and turned to Bucky, who was watching her carefully. "We are going with them, going after Reinhardt, going after Hydra," Bucky told her firmly, squeezing her arm lightly in his hand, "You _don't_ have to do this if you don't want to, if you don't think you can handle it."

Winnie pulled away from him and shook her head. "Of course I'm going," she replied simply, her mind's eye floating to a dark image of herself slowly strangling Reinhardt to death, "I have a debt to repay."

"Then we need to go," Natasha ordered them, marching them towards the door. She pulled it open and glared at the agents waiting outside of it for them. Sam and Winnie followed her and Bucky took up the rear. Natasha led them through the halls, following the agents, and Sam handed Winnie her goggles.

"I grabbed these for you," he told her in a low voice. Winnie smiled at him and pulled them on, ensuring that they were flickered on above her face. "Thanks," she murmured. In the hangar, Natasha spoke briefly with Agent May, before turning to back to them.

"Coulson and some of his team took the jet, to go after something," Natasha delivered this news in a low voice. Winnie felt her brow tighten and took a step towards them. "What? How are we supposed to -?" Winnie began heatedly, but Natasha jerked a thumb at the huge plane on the other side of the hangar. "They call it the Bus, we'll be going with May and a few others in that, to locate someone who knows exactly where Reinhardt is," Natasha said. Winnie raised an eyebrow at the giant aircraft.

"Not real discreet, is it?" Sam said in a low voice. Bucky grunted what may have been a laugh and Winnie glanced over at him. "Let's go," he told her, "How we get there doesn't matter." She held his gaze for a moment longer and realized that he was eager to go. As they marched aboard the plane, and took their seats, buckling in for takeoff, Winnie thought about his eagerness.

She thought a large part of it was for herself, that Bucky wanted Reinhardt to pay for the things he'd done to Winnie. _But what about the things Hydra did to Bucky?_ She knew revenge was on a constant simmering boil in the back of his mind. If he could, Bucky would have slaughtered every last member of Hydra, but he hadn't gone off on a half-cocked revenge-mission. She knew he was too smart for that, that there was too much soldier, too much of the _Soldier_, left inside of him to let him do anything so reckless.

No, she knew he would prefer to bide his time, take the opportunities as they presented themselves and see Hydra fall. There was no point in seeking revenge if you were to die in the process; at least that's what Winnie felt. She had too much to live for, he had too much to live for now – it wasn't an option to just race off and take down Hydra alone.

Winnie examined his face next to her, through her goggles. She could read his heat signature, his vital signs; his heart rate was accelerated, he was mildly flushed, and his brain was going a mile a minute – Bucky was excited. She wanted to be worried, but she felt her own excitement zipping through her veins. She wanted to catch Hydra, she wanted to confront them, to be surrounded by them. She even wanted them to think that they'd won, only to make their fall sweeter.

A glance over at Natasha, at the smug, cat-like satisfaction on her face, and over at Sam's hard-faced determination, told Winnie all she needed to know about this mission. Their little four man team wanted this. All four of them had a score to settle with Hydra, and now, fate and time seemed to be providing them the perfect opportunity to do it.


	3. Chapter 3 - Old Foes

**Chapter 3 – Old Foes**

***** I apologize for how long this took to come out - extreme, _extreme_ writer's block hit me hard on this chapter *****

Winnie put a hand on Bucky's knee as the plane began it's descent to their first stop, one that May had told them they were making, in Vancouver, Canada of all places, to pick up a target who had information on Hydra and on Reinhardt. She looked over at him and he turned his eyes to hers, the blue of them lively and snapping.

"Does anyone else feel really amped up right now, or is it just me?" Sam asked them all once the plane had landed and they were moving around the cabin, looking over the equipment and furnishings. They were snooping, if she had to be honest. Winnie laughed and even Bucky managed a brief chuckle. "No, it's been a long time coming, don't you think?" Winnie responded, "I can't tell you how long…" her voice trailed off as she met Bucky's eyes.

"Actually, I can tell you how long; since that night in 1944 when that man from Hydra threw me through the phone booth wall," Winnie said seriously. Bucky narrowed his eyes and looked away. He hated the reminder, especially since his memories of the time were nonexistent. After they had searched the main portion of the cabin, and after Winnie and Sam had managed to deter Natasha from hacking into the computers there ("It's not really our mission right now, Natasha," Winnie had griped. Natasha had simply rolled her eyes and gone back to her seat), they all sat around somewhat quietly.

It was a strange lull – things had seemed so go go go for the past couple of days: fighting, destruction, action, secrets, lies, followed by yet more secrets and lies. Having to sit and wait for someone to be captured by a team of people who weren't necessarily _their_ team of people, and hoping this person would have some information they wanted, was boring, not to mention a little nerve-wracking.

"What's taking so long?" Winnie complained to Bucky, looking over at him with a pensive frown on her face. He had pressed his lips together in a line and shook his head; either indicating he didn't know, or that she needed to be quiet, she wasn't sure.

"You know forceful extraction missions aren't easy, Winnie," Natasha said casually, regarding her fingernails critically, "You've been on both sides of one; you'd think you would know how to be a little more patient." Winnie took a deep breath and shook her head, not wanting to think about the times she herself had been the target, nor about the times, back when she was going out on SHIELD missions, when she was the one assisting in the extracting.

"I just want this to be…" Winnie's voice trailed off as she thought about how to finish the sentiment.

"Over?" Sam offered.

"Successful?" Natasha submitted.

"Kill Reinhardt with your bare hands?" Bucky suggested. Winnie blinked and looked over at him in surprise, very mild amusement flitting through her gaze. "That doesn't match what I was saying," she said lamely, taking in his eager, hard-eyed visage. Bucky met her eyes and shrugged.

"Maybe that's just me then," he muttered. Winnie was about to reply when they heard a commotion at the door. Hunter returned then, with the other agent, the woman, Skye, Winnie thought her name was. Winnie hadn't had much time to interact with the young agent, and wasn't overly interested in doing so, though she had found it mildly amusing to see Skye's eyes nearly bug out being so close to a couple Avengers and the Winter Soldier. Now, Skye and Hunter were leading another smaller woman who managed to somehow look both irritated and trapped.

The captive woman looked up and saw the four of them seated calmly in their seats and blinked rapidly in surprise. "What?" She asked softly, in surprise, as she was tossed into a chair near them. Her eyes moved from Sam, to Natasha, looking deadly as always, to Winnie sitting up as tall as she could in her easily recognizable Nomad gear, and then landing on the Winter Soldier.

"What do _you_ want with the obelisk?" The woman asked him in surprise, her gaze locked firmly onto Bucky. Winnie made a face, got out of her seat, and stepped forward.

"Obelisk?" She asked the small woman, "I don't know about an obelisk, and I don't care." The woman could not stop staring at Bucky, and it was unnerving Winnie, because it was not just plain fear she saw in those eyes, it was a familiar wariness.

"We only want to know where Reinhardt is, where the Hydra base he's operating is, that's it, that's all we want," Winnie said flatly, "Anything else going on here is between you and SHIELD." The woman dragged her eyes from Bucky to look up at Winnie. "We all want things," the woman said calmly, before looking back at Bucky and shaking her head slightly to herself.

Winnie felt her brow furrow and took an aggressive step forward, bringing her gloved hand up before herself and twisting it quickly into a fist. The woman was pulled back harshly into the chair and the chair itself shot across the room, several feet further from Bucky. Winnie lifted her chin slightly and tightened the grip her ability had on the woman, making sure their captive was aware that she was being grasped tightly, and had no control over it.

Winnie walked slowly across the room and was distantly pleased that no one seemed inclined to stop her, or slow this down. In fact, May had already begun the process of taking off; she could feel it in the small lurches and movements the plane was making. The small woman's eyes latched onto Winnie now.

"I want Reinhardt," Winnie said in a low voice, "Tell me where he is and you don't have to deal with us any longer."

"I know you," the woman said faintly, against the invisible hand clamped around her throat, "He wants you; they've always wanted you. Why do you want to bring yourself to him?" Winnie glared at her.

"You're Hydra?" She heard Bucky ask, as he strode forward to stand next to Winnie. Sam, Hunter, and Skye had all wisely buckled into their seats and were watching, warily, but making no move to involve themselves. A quick glance back at them also displayed Natasha sitting tense and at attention, her eyes locked like a laser onto their captive, as if assessing each and every thing that the woman said and did, sifting through it all for hidden meaning. _That's exactly what she's doing, determining this woman's motives and letting Bucky and I be the muscle._

"Aren't you Hydra?" The woman mocked Bucky, "Or have you been reformed?"

Winnie growled and tilted the chair back slightly. "Let me make this really clear to you," Winnie said, stepping in front of Bucky and mentally pushing him back a couple steps, "Not a single person on this plane is capable of stopping me from doing what I want to do; not you, not him, not even _her_," Winnie gestured over her shoulder at Natasha, who was still boring holes into the woman with her hawk-like stare.

"You seem to know who I am, I would think that would make you a little more cooperative," Winnie felt her brow tighten further as she leaned closer, continuing on in a voice tightened with barely controlled threat, "Nothing you've heard is an exaggeration, so you'll need to start telling me what I want to hear, or else you're going to find that this is a very unpleasant ride for you."

There was a strange noise coming from outside the plane and Winnie heard the clicks of several seatbelts at once as machinery starting beeping and whirring at the large bank of sophisticated computers behind them and everyone got out of their seats quickly. Hunter and Sam rushed to the windows to see what the noise outside was, Skye and Natasha bee-lined for the computers. Bucky turned away from Winnie with a short growl when the roaring noise outside got louder. Winnie forced herself to stand her ground, glaring at the woman.

Ignoring the flurry of activity, the woman kept her eyes locked on Winnie for a long moment before deciding something. She smiled. "My name is Raina, and I _could_ tell you what you need to know," the woman told her, "But I think you'll shortly learn firsthand. It's a shame because I'm not a fan of Reinhardt myself; I don't wish him on anyone."

There was a slight bump to the plane quite suddenly, and Winnie finally looked away, to see everyone move to the windows, except for Natasha, who spun on her heel and immediately began to run towards the front of the plane, making her way to the cockpit, to warn May, Winnie hoped.

"Oh my god," she heard Hunter murmur at the window, "They're everywhere." Winnie glowered at Raina, who only looked smug.

"Hydra is here," Raina told her, a smile growing on her face, "They're about to board the plane. They're coming for me, but won't they be pleased to find you here?" Winnie stood stock still for a moment, blinking stupidly as she tried to put together Raina's words and the flurry of noise and movement from the people in the rest of the room. _How are we losing this so quickly? We haven't even had the chance to try yet! _Bucky was at her side shortly, grabbing Winnie's arm and pulling her away.

"She's not lying," he urged her, "They must have followed us, after these people grabbed this woman; it looks like some kind of stealth technology on their own planes allowed them to get in close and land a plane on the loading dock on the top of this aircraft, above us, up those stairs," he gestured towards the small flight of stairs just past the center of the room, stairs that led upwards, "Agent May wouldn't have been able to detect it until it was too late."

Winnie stared up at him and then they both jerked their heads towards the noise emitting from above. Hunter and Skye swept back to Raina, obviously intending to keep the woman away from whatever was coming. _Maybe we should have found out more about this Raina woman, this obelisk, about SHIELDs current mission_, Winnie thought worriedly, cursing her impulsivity yet again, and feeling a growing irritation that neither Natasha nor Sam had thought that this was anything risky, either. _Have we underestimated SHIELD, again?_

Natasha came running back into the main cabin area and took up a defensive positon behind the stairs that led from the upper level of the plane, where it was obvious, through the sounds they were hearing, that someone was boarding their plane through an entrance hatch of some kind. Winnie looked around a little wildly and pressed at the communications toggle on her goggles. "May? May? Are you there? They're trying to board," Winnie said loudly. Agent May didn't respond and then there was a hard jerk to the cabin of the plane.

"They're coming in," Bucky hissed at her, his eyes locked to the staircase that led upwards, "Hide, and hide now." Winnie shrugged off his hand and glared at him, before moving closer to the stairs and reaching her hands up towards the door at the top. She put everything she had into securing the doorway and the walls around it.

"Natasha," Winnie ground out through teeth clenched with effort, "Can you find out if there's another way to get in from up there? Maybe you and Sam could… " Her voice trailed off when Natasha turned and darted away without another word, grabbing Hunter on her way past.

"Little help," Natasha snapped at the surprised man. Sam looked over at Winnie, strained against invisible pressure from the door above, and Bucky who was rapidly arming himself and positioned as closely to the bottom of the stairs as he could get, without being in Winnie's way.

"Are you good?" Sam asked her in an urgent voice. Winnie could hardly nod, the people on the other side of the door, the _Hydra_ agents on the other side of the door, were working hard, trying to ram it open, testing the walls around it. The Hydra agents up there were encountering resistance that should not have been possible, and she knew it would only take them a matter of seconds to realize why that resistance was there and what that meant for them. _Guess I've given myself away,_ she thought wryly, knowing that she'd been offered little other choice; she had to keep them from entering this section of the plane.

"Go," Bucky said shortly to Sam, hardly looking over at the man, "Sam, go now, help the Widow, take out anyone you can, keep them from this room."

Sam disappeared and Winnie grunted against the pressure at the door. Her brow tightened when she saw cracks beginning to form in the wall. "I can't," she groaned, "They're getting through, they're breaking it slowly." She couldn't word properly what her ability was allowing her to feel. The people trying to get in to the main section of the plane seemed to know how to get around her ability and were destroying the other side of the door in bits and pieces; instead of one big section to hold in place, Winnie found herself scrambling to hold together multiple pieces.

"What's happening?" Skye asked in a worried voice from her place standing next to where Raina was still in the chair, "Can't you hold them back? Isn't that your thing?" Winnie could hardly spare a glance at her.

"Shut up," Bucky told the young agent, "If that one is your target," he gestured at Raina, "Then I suggest you try and secure her, they're getting in."

Skye began to struggle with Raina, trying to drag her up from the chair and out of the room, and Winnie felt tempted to heave something at the smaller woman's head, maybe knocking her out. Raina was resisting because it seemed that she wanted to be caught at this point, not hidden away. Winnie couldn't assist Skye though, she couldn't spare the energy, and the first small pieces of door began to fall off, bouncing and clattering down the stairs.

"Bucky," Winnie growled, "It's coming down." He moved to her side and raised his gun as another piece of door broke off and shot down the stairs. They could hear the intruders now, see their legs through the holes in the door, the angle from where they stood at the bottom of the staircase only allowed them to see the people above from the knee down, since the ceiling got in the way.

"When they come," Bucky murmured to her, "Don't hesitate, they won't." She knew he meant she had to kill them, and quickly.

Another chunk of door broke and Winnie felt her resistance snap, losing her grip on the multitude of battered-in pieces of door and wall. The door caved in towards them, straining in several pieces in mid-air as she tried to fight it back, before she abandoned it and released her hold on the door, trying to move quickly to now start holding off the intruders by their clothing and armor.

"She's here!" Winnie heard someone yelling at the top of the stairs, "Tranq her! Tranq her!" Bucky growled and shot at the legs above them, not missing once. A man screamed as he was shot three times in the leg and collapsed, now fully in their line of sight as he writhed on the floor at the top of the staircase. Winnie grabbed hold of his pant legs and ripped him down the stairs, dropping him like a rock to the floor of the cabin. He let out a pained grunt and lay still.

Bullets were flying now, and she wasn't able to deflect them all. "Move!" She screamed at Bucky, trying to shove him out of the way, "Get out of my way!" He didn't move, just kept trying to hit the legs and feet of the people at the top of the stairs; people who were all trying to get down through the open doorway now, and were being met with resistance that Winnie was trying to keep pressed against them.

He reached his metal arm towards her and gave her a sudden shove and she stumbled back several paces, just in time to avoid being brained with some kind of metal cylinder that was thrown down the stairs and landed heavily right where she'd been standing.

"Bucky -!" Winnie screamed, at the same time that Skye yelled, "Flash bang!" The device went off before she could do anything and it felt like a massive concussion of air exploding in her head. Her ears rang as she fell backwards and lay stunned on the ground. She looked around herself, foggy and dizzy, and she could see Bucky on the other side of the cabin trying to force himself up from where he'd landed after the device went off.

Men were pouring down the stairs at this point and Winnie began to try and lash out, but she felt cross eyed and stupid; the flash bang had disoriented her hideously. She looked over to where Raina and Skye had been and saw Raina on the ground, looking winded but immensely pleased. Skye was being dragged up off the ground by two of the men and held at gunpoint and Winnie managed to throw a chair at one of them before she was punched in the head and truly lost her equilibrium.

"It's the asset!" She heard one of the agents call out, followed by the screams of people being wounded. She saw a flash of metal, Bucky's arm, whipping through the Hydra agents, and the person who punched her, hauled her to her feet, gripping her against their chest with a thick arm pressed into her throat. Winnie felt nauseated, dizzy to the point of pain, and her head ached sickeningly from the punch. She tried to swarm her ability nonetheless, watching as the room spun, and she was only able to hit things of little consequence.

"We are retrieval!" The man holding her screamed, above her head. His words tore through her mind, the volume achingly painful. "We are retrieval!" He hollered again. Winnie looked up and saw Bucky drop the man he was strangling, his face twisted in confusion. _No, no, no!_ "Bucky," she managed to say, "Don't –"

The man holding her cuffed her across the head again and she sagged heavily in his grip, his hold on her neck growing tighter. She felt something cold pushing into her temple and realized it was a gun. Bucky's widened eyes locked onto the gun at her temple before his entire face flinched and he shook his head, looking as if he was trying to clear his thoughts by force.

"_We. Are. Retrieval," _the man said again, in clear-voiced fury, each word clipped and precise. Bucky's entire frame shuddered and he grabbed the sides of his head. Winnie lashed out with her ability one last time, trying to throw something at Bucky, to snap him out of it. Her focus was so utterly tight and determined as she fought against her swimming mind, that she felt a sharp, bright pain behind her eyes from its overuse, followed by a warm dribble of something leaking out of her nose.

Bucky's metal arm clicked and whirred as it snapped into the air with frightening speed and grabbed the chunk of debris she'd tried to throw. His hand crushed it, and dropped the debris, before he stood at attention, not even looking at Winnie.

Winnie felt horror flooding her veins when the man holding her chuckled and squeezed her neck tighter. "We are retrieval," he said once more, his voice amused and menacing, all at once. Winnie suddenly realized there was a method to the madness of those words. Bucky's features went stiff and hard, and it looked like a veil crossed his face. He looked like a machine. "No," she managed to gargle out.

She was dizzy, aching, bleeding, sick, and nearly unconscious, but nothing hurt as badly as watching Bucky disappear completely. The _Soldier_, the mindless one, returned, blankness spreading over his features in a cold wave as he finally answered their attackers.

"I am retrieved."

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"He killed them," Skye whispered next to her, her tone disbelieving. Winnie rolled her head and looked over at Skye, the movement causing a strong ache in her throat and neck. She felt numb, stupid, and hardly able to comprehend what was happening. They were on the Hydra plane now, and an endless loop was playing in her mind, displaying for her again and again, the events of the past hour, tormenting her.

Bucky's abrupt change, back to Hydra's asset, left her feeling like she couldn't breathe. The man holding her, who Skye had told her was the traitor, Ward, had shoved Winnie roughly to the ground and then ordered one of his men to stand next to Bucky, a gun trained on his head. Winnie had felt the immediate instinct to lash out, but Ward had shaken his head, a smile growing on his face as he tutted at her.

"I wouldn't," he told her, his tone more amiable than the situation called for, "One move out of you, for any reason, and we will terminate the asset immediately, got it?" Winnie had glared at him, feeling a twitch growing in her eye. She thought of a thousand things she would do to this man if she could, to all of these men, things that sickened her, and realized she was baring her teeth at him in a silent growl.

"You think I'm kidding? You really believe he can think for himself anymore?" Ward had bent closer to her and narrowed his eyes, "Do you honestly think that Hydra wouldn't have created fail-safes in their favorite toy? Back-up plans?" Winnie had been nearly panting as she tried to get to her feet, but Ward had only rolled his eyes and used a boot to press her back down to the floor.

"He won't fight his orders now, he's been retrieved, as far as that _robot_ is concerned, his mission is done, he's primed and waiting for a new directive," Ward had told her conversationally, his eyes looking past Winnie, towards where Skye was standing at gun-point. His features had softened and Winnie felt her own eyes tighten as she realized that this man had a past with the SHIELD agents on this plane, and that he had been one of them, hence the traitor title. _Remember that, use it, later, _she had urged herself, her gaze darting over to where Bucky stood stiff and unmoving, his face blank, even as the gun pressed into the back of his head.

There had been a brief commotion, from the back of the plane, and Winnie had looked over when she heard gun shots from that direction and realized that it was Natasha returning with Hunter and Sam. The woman wasted no time, each of her four shots hitting their targets, and Hydra agents dropped dead.

What had happened next left Winnie with the sickened feeling that pervaded even over an hour later. Ward had turned to Bucky calmly. "Kill them," Ward ordered in a flat tone. Winnie opened her mouth and began to scream her protest, even as Bucky raised the gun still clutched in his flesh hand and shot at their three companions. None of them had time to react, as none of them expected Bucky to turn on them and take them out.

All of three of them had let out grunts as the bullets hit them and they all stumbled backwards and collapsed, falling to the ground, out of view. Satisfied, Ward had ordered his men to gather Raina, Skye, and Winnie, and get them back to the Hydra plane. Winnie had hardly been able breathe, opening and closing her mouth like she couldn't get air, and had felt like all the noise and sound around them was dulled to nothing, leaving her with a sharp ringing in her ears.

As she had been wrenched from the ground by an agent, she turned back and saw three figures laying at the far side of the big room in the centre of the plane, Natasha's boot slung over the arm of a chair that she must have tumbled backwards over. None of them were moving.

She had needed to be carried up the stairs as she sagged in the arms of her captor, unable to believe that as quickly as that, Natasha and Sam were dead. As she had been dragged through the hatch into the Hydra plane, Winnie's eyes had slid over Bucky, coming up the stairs behind her, his gaze vacant and not focused on hers. He had still had an agent behind him, with a gun tucked up against the back of his head; the implied threat was not being lifted. She and Skye had been taken to the rear of the Hydra plane, a plane far more utilitarian than SHIELD's 'bus', and she had stood unprotestingly as the man who dragged her there ripped off her goggles, her gloves, her belt, and her boots, shoving her around a lot more roughly than needed given her state.

Ward had begun talking to Skye, their tones cutting furiously back and forth, but Winnie had been too far gone to react or listen properly. All she could see in her mind's eye was Natasha's boot dangling limply over the chair and the three prone forms on the ground. When she had managed to focus her gaze for a moment, tearing herself from the grim mental image, she had seen, a mere 20 feet away, Bucky, sitting stiffly and robotically in a seat, still with a gun to his head.

"This thing is full of SHIELD shit," the man disarming her had grumbled, yanking at the neck of her blue jacket, drawing her attention back to him. Winnie blinked several times when she realized he meant to take the entire Nomad ensemble off of her and had batted at his hands, trying to keep him off as he wrestled to pull the blue jacket open.

"Hey! Leave her alone! What the hell is wrong with you, you pervert?" Skye had begun to yell at the man, trying to shove past Ward. Winnie tried to jerk away from the man in front of her, clawing at his hands as he fought to wrest the jacket from her, desperately wanting to use her ability to stop him, but terrified to test Ward's words about killing Bucky.

A hand had then closed over Winnie's and pulled her own away, and then the man grabbing at her jacket was shoved back, as Ward stepped in front of her, looking down at her solemnly. "Are you wearing anything beneath this get-up?" He had asked her seriously, his eyes firm, but at least glinting with something a little more humane than the other Hydra agent she'd been grappling with.

Winnie had felt a rush of anger and sorrow flush her neck and face as she stared back at him. Her eyes had grown teary and she had hated the show of weakness, but couldn't fight it off, at war within herself: one part wanting to _fight,_ fight with everything she had, and the other wanting to curl up in a ball and sob over the fresh loss of her comrades. She was battling so much more than captivity right now; she was battling grief. Winnie clenched her teeth and nodded at Ward, answering his question without words.

"Then take off the uniform, don't be stupid, you know we can't let you stay in SHIELD tech," Ward told her in a firm voice. Winnie took in a deep shuddery breath and looked away, resentfully beginning to remove the jacket and the pants. She had understood well enough, through the fog of her pain, both physical and mental, that Ward, for whatever reason, was showing her a sort of kindness by allowing her to surrender her Nomad garments, rather than have them violently stripped from herself. And he had been right, the uniform _was_ layered and peppered with SHIELD goodies; if she were in his place, a dim part of her mind was aware that she would have insisted the same.

She had been left in the white SHIELD tank top she always wore beneath the suit, and the black leggings that Natasha had once told her were called 'yoga pants', though she'd never worn them for anything other than a layer beneath the Nomad gear. Standing in her thick black socks, Winnie had glared at Ward until he nodded and grabbed her shoulder, steering her back to where Skye had been sitting on the floor of the plane, leaned up against the wall with her knees drawn to her chest. Winnie sat next to the agent and mirrored her position. Ward had walked a few steps away and then stopped, looking back at them.

"I'm sorry, Skye," he murmured to the young woman, and Winnie had looked over at the girl to see anger and betrayal clearly plastered across her face, her eyes pained from the loss of her own comrade, Hunter.

"Fuck you," Skye responded in a voice gravelly with loathing. _Good girl,_ Winnie had thought briefly, admiring Skye's backbone, before she looked past Ward and locked her gaze on Bucky again. Her entire body had been aching for him to look at her, to assure her it was alright, that he was there, but he wasn't even looking in her direction, just staring blankly and steadily at the wall across from his seat.

"If you behave, he doesn't have to die," Ward had assured her, "But either way, I'm returning you to Hydra; it's up to you whether you both make it, or if you're going alone." Winnie had swallowed and looked away, her jaw clenching tightly again. Ward disappeared to the front of the plane and Winnie pressed her face into her legs, to give herself the illusion of privacy, and also the opportunity to think without anyone reading her thoughts all over her face.

She remained that way until her face grew hot from crying and from being so angry, and then she lifted her head up to lean it back against the wall of the plane. That was when Skye had whispered in disbelief about the death of their people. Winnie licked her lips and stared down at her lap. _I should rip this place apart, tear the plane in half, _she thought suddenly, vehemently, _I've lost Bucky. Natasha and Sam are dead. Now Hydra's got me._ She entertained a vision of suddenly unleashing a tidal wave of violent power, rending apart every living thing on the plane, cracking it open, all of them falling to their deaths.

Winnie looked over at Skye again and felt a ripple of guilt. She would be unfairly sentencing the young agent to an early death doing that. She had to pause and consider whether or not it was worth it; Hydra said they wanted to turn her into a weapon, likely for destruction on a huge scale, and as much as she hated them, she hardly doubted their ability to do so. _Isn't it worth this one agent's life to prevent it?_ Winnie looked away from Skye when the young woman began to cry angrily and silently into her hands.

Her gaze travelled along the plane, skating in irritation over Raina, who was buckled firmly in to a seat near the midsection of the plane, looking smug. The woman's gaze was drawn repeatedly to Skye, and even though none of this exact scenario was explicitly Raina's fault, Winnie imagined, with a dark kind of glee born from the darkest place in her mind, of slicing the woman in half with her seatbelt. Raina's eyes moved to Winnie and she must have seen the dark, angry promise of violence on Winnie's face because she recoiled a little.

Winnie wanted to threaten the other woman, but felt weighed down with grief and frustration and instead looked away. Bucky was next in her line of vision and Winnie thought again about causing the plane to crash, just ending this all now. _Even if I get out of this, somehow, I can't have him gone again, just a ghost, all over again._ She knew the thought was pure weakness on her part, but the lancing pain in her heart told her that the sentiment was true nonetheless. Bucky was no longer staring straight ahead, his head hung slightly now, his hair covering and shadowing his face.

She trailed her eyes over him, wondering if she could stand to see his brains blown out. If she defied Ward, and they killed Bucky, then their ability to hold sway over her was gone and she could destroy them all, she could get out of Hydra's grasp and save countless lives by not allowing herself to become a weapon. The plane bumped slightly and Bucky's head bounced limply and she licked her lips at the quick glimpse of his face. _I think I could,_ she thought mournfully, _it might kill me, but I think I could, for this reason and this reason only._

"Bucky," she murmured, her sorrow so heavy in her voice that Ward looked over at her and Skye put a tentative hand on her arm. Winnie jerked from the girl's touch. "Bucky, please," Winnie said again, her voice quiet and pleading, "Don't make me do this." Ward got to his feet abruptly and marched towards her, gripping his weapon in his hands. Winnie glared up at him as he approached, his eyes showing only the faintest wary gleam.

"Don't do anything stupid," he ordered her, "You don't want to be the reason he dies."

"You should be afraid of me," Winnie said, climbing to her feet slowly, still aching everywhere, "You should be _terrified_." She glared at him and prepared to hand herself over to her ability, to throw herself into that dark and powerful abyss and not look back. The personal price she would have to pay would be steep, possibly too steep to live with afterwards, but she knew there was no other option: Hydra could not have her, at any cost.

Ward took a step back and she heard the sound of his men getting to their feet. She took another step away from the wall, her eyes flat and dead as they locked on Ward, her brows drawn down into a glare.

"I'm going to make you regret this," she promised him, hardly recognizing the tone of her voice. She glanced over at Bucky one last time and swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. He was staring blankly back at her, his attention drawn to where everyone else had gathered, but there was no life behind the gaze. The man holding the gun to Bucky's head seemed to also sense what was about to happen and pressed the gun to Bucky's skull even more tightly. She took a deep breath.

"Bucky I love you," she told him steadily, "And I'm sorry." She shot her gaze back to Ward and she felt the welcoming rush of the wild and reckless side of her ability taking over. The plane's walls began shaking slightly. "I hope you're afraid," she told Ward. He looked over her shoulder quickly and his face quickly settled into a far calmer one.

"No, I'm not," he said simply and Winnie felt the slam of something hit her neck painfully, and the burning heat of a Hydra sedative flowed into her. She cursed herself for not being more on guard for just this kind of thing, really the _only_ thing that could stop her in her tracks and put her down. Winnie slumped to her knees and slammed sideways to the floor. Her face landed facing Skye, who was wide-eyed with fear and worry.

"I _hate_ tranquilizers," Winnie managed to murmur to the girl, before she blacked out, "Every… single… time…"

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"Damn it! That _hurts!_" Hunter complained, as May roughly pressed a bandage to his side. She slapped her hand against the bandage once and turned a wry look over to Natasha.

"You should be more grateful that you're not dead," May commented, before moving towards Sam and pulling back the collar of his shirt. There was a neat divot through the uppermost section of the flesh between his neck and shoulder; it was bleeding heavily, but was clearly nothing more than a flesh wound.

Natasha barely spared any of this a thought. She'd dealt with her own mild wound quickly, briefly cursing Barnes for shooting her, _again_, leaving a graze wound across her side. May had informed her of the tracking device in Skye's necklace, and it hadn't taken Natasha long to get the tracking system up and running. They knew where they were going now, but she was worried about what they might find when they arrived.

It was clear to her that Barnes had willingly shot them, she'd heard the "Kill them" directive from Ward, but obviously the Soldier hadn't killed them. He'd intentionally shot them in a way that would bleed, quickly and heavily, knock them on their asses, but not cause much damage. A way that looked very bad to anyone casting a glance at their prone bodies. The second she'd felt the bullet rip across the surface of her skin, she'd stumbled backwards, taking Hunter and Sam down with her.

"_Stay down_," she'd hissed quietly, but urgently to them both, and thankfully they seemed to quickly catch her drift: _play dead._ It was immediately obvious to her that Barnes had aimed exactly and precisely; she didn't love the guy, but she knew damn well he was an astounding shot. As she flickered her fingers deftly across the keyboard now, zeroing in on the building in Puerto Rico where the Hydra plane had gone, she had to grudgingly admit that she was trusting Barnes without them having spoken a word to each other about his plan.

"So, _they_ think they got him under some kind of spell, right?" Sam asked, grunting slightly when May began to stitch his wound. Natasha nodded, not looking over; she was trying to find a place where they could land without being spotted on the virtual map in front of her.

"But _you_ think they don't," he stated flatly. Natasha nodded curtly.

"We'd be dead if he wanted us to be," she replied flatly, "They ordered him to kill us and he purposefully didn't."

"He wants them to think he's under control, so there's something more important at play, at least to him," May muttered, affixing a bandage over Sam's wound. Natasha finally spared a glance over at the other woman. "Reinhardt," Natasha said to May. The agent nodded.

"He's the one that turned Winnie into…" Sam began, his voice trailing off as he tried to find a term that wasn't offensive.

"Into Nomad," May finished for him, turning away from them and striding towards the cockpit. "I'm sending the coordinates up to the cockpit now," Natasha told May's retreating back, receiving only a grunt in acknowledgement.

"So, we go get them," Sam stated, not asking a question. "Yeah, we do," Natasha responded. She turned from the screen and leaned her back against the table she'd just been working at.

"Hydra can't have her," Natasha explained flatly, "Nobody can." She stared hard at Sam, hating what she was about to say, knowing that she'd lose Steve's trust forever with this.

"If we can't save her from Hydra, then we have to end the threat she represents," Natasha's voice was throaty, serious, but her eyes were the slightest bit pained. Sam just stared at her, nearly uncomprehending. It was Hunter who spoke first though.

"Hold on, hold on," Hunter interjected, "You're sayin' you'll just stroll in there and _kill_ your friend? If you can't have her, nobody can? Are you bloody serious?" Natasha regarded him coolly, fighting to keep her emotions from her face as she answered him in her coldest voice, the Widow's voice:

"That's exactly what we'll do."


	4. Chapter 4 - Apart

**Chapter 4: Apart**

***** Second to Last Chapter Folks! Hope you enjoy! *****

Her head hurt. A lot. Winnie tried to open her eyes, but the second they were cracked open even the slightest bit, it felt like the sun was burning through them, directly into her brain. She crushed them closed as tightly as possible. _Think carefully_, she warned herself, struggling to process something coherent through the fog in her mind and the brightness outside her eyes.

Breathing deeply, Winnie could feel the various aches and pains running up and down her body from the encounter on the plane, could feel the faint burn left over from the tranquilizer. _The tranq, the plane. Bucky._ Winnie's eyes popped open then, heedless of the sun, and she hissed in pain. She wasn't on the plane any longer. She was in some kind of office. It was hot in the office, muggy, and the sun was cutting through the thick shutters and she knew they'd definitely landed somewhere warm and balmy.

No one was in here with her. Winnie looked down at herself and saw that she was sitting in a thick metal chair, so large it was nearly a throne, and she was bound to it by thick metal clasps and bands, an eerie blue light glowing through the middle of each. She pulled on them, trying to yank her hands free, then her feet. Her physical ministrations didn't budge them.

Winnie looked up again, her eyes growing a little more panicked as a slow realization dawned on her; she couldn't hear anything. No one was in the room, and she didn't hear voices outside. She couldn't believe that Hydra would capture her, their lost asset, and then not be here to gloat when she awoke. _Oh god, Bucky, what are they doing to him?_ She figured the only reason they'd be leaving her alone, all neatly trussed and secure as she was, was if they were too busy doing terrible things to Bucky.

She turned her head back down to the bindings on her hands, on her arms, on her legs, on her feet, and prodded at them experimentally with her ability. Again, they wouldn't budge. She reached her mind all around the room, just to test her ability, and tore a painting from the wall with ease, heaving it across the room like a meteor. Winnie watched in mild satisfaction as it buried itself into the wall with the force of her throw.

_Ok, so I can't get free on my own, but I can smash people to bits until they let me free, _she consoled herself, before a darker part of her mind rose up to whisper menacingly: _but_ _you don't know what they're doing right now, do you? I mean maybe they're hurting Bucky, maybe this is all a mental game – but either way you don't actually know, not really. They never do anything without a purpose. So why are you alone? And why can you do things with your mind but can't get out of this chair?_

"Where are you?" She yelled then, realizing then that the horrible voice in her head was right; there really was no way that Hydra would just leave her free to use her power, without someone here, some ulterior motive. "Ward!" She screamed, "Where are you?" She was getting angry now, irritated, tired of the game afoot.

"Get in here!" She yelled, the floor rumbling around her as she grew more and more upset - and that was when she finally heard a door behind her open up, she just couldn't turn enough to see what was happening, the blue-lit bindings prevented that.

With a door open, she could feel a breeze coming in, muggy like the air, just slightly cooler. Carried in on the breeze like a virus, she could hear a distant, agonized, scream. Winnie felt her spine straighten in horror and lashed out spastically with her ability, lancing a huge crack through the wall directly ahead of her; it was Bucky screaming.

When the wall cracked, drifts of plaster raining down, Bucky screamed again. Winnie flinched and abruptly froze, her body and power halting together. Her head whipped around, desperate to see behind her, to see someone, to take this out on _someone_. "What are you doing to him? I'll kill you! I will kill you!" She shrieked in rage, her power flashing out spastically and breaking the windows in the room, a chunk of the ceiling caving in and collapsing to the floor in front of her; if they didn't come to her, then she would tear this place apart.

Bucky screamed again then, the loudest and most agonizing yet, and then she heard a voice finally speak behind her. It was a calm, American accent, but with strangely clipped words; some other accent hiding behind it.

"Each time you misbehave, he pays for your mistake, it's a simple arrangement," the voice told her. Winnie froze, absorbing the words, her insides tingling with misery as she understood their meaning. _Buck up, kiddo – these people are like predators; they can smell fear._

"What if I just kill us all, instead? Bring the building down on us?" She shot back, letting her words drip with the angry threat. The voice chuckled and then footsteps approached her.

"You won't," the voice told her, before the person the voice belonged to stepped in front of her, standing several feet away, "I know you, and you won't." Winnie's eyes moved up to the man speaking to her and she felt a ripple of something hot, frantic, and painful move through her body. Her breathing stuck in her throat and her eyes refused to blink, even her heart seemed to forget its job.

It was Reinhardt. Civilized, in a modern suit, but otherwise looking exactly the same. Reinhardt. Staring at her with a mixture of clinical fascination and greedy joy. Reinhardt. The person she'd been forced to look at every day while he did terrible things to her. A face that knew no mercy, no empathy; only empty wanting and hardened curiosity.

"No, no, I won't be yours again," she muttered without thought, staring hard at him, her entire body vibrating with shock and fear, "You can't be here." He smirked at her and leaned back against the desk he'd been standing in front of. Reinhardt seemed to expect her disorientation, her fear, her numbly paralyzed reaction to seeing him. He inclined his head towards her.

"I suppose defying time is not as difficult as people are made to think," he told her, his eyes flickering around the office they were occupying, watching as the entire room shook slightly and involuntarily; Winnie had lost all ability to even try and control herself, she felt like she was being sucked into a dark vacuum, where breath was hard to catch, and where an enormous pressure on her chest left her unable to get her heart to do anything more than stutter. Her mind was stunned and stupidly confused, fluttering out and shaking things, as if looking for help.

"I won't be yours," she whispered, her eyes huge as she looked at him, her stomach roiling sickeningly, "Not again." He nodded at her, smiling easily.

"You will," he told her, "Because, even as we speak, Barnes is in an unenviable position, a precarious one; I'm not content to simply kill him for your misbehavior." Winnie clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering, to keep from vomiting on herself, watching in abject horror as he approached her.

Reinhardt leaned closer to her, his eyes moving back and forth between her own. "He will suffer," Reinhardt threatened simply, "He will be made to suffer more than any person has, so I _know_ that you will comply to prevent such a thing." Winnie briefly gave thought to simply destroying the building, to destroying herself, but the sadistic glint in Reinhardt's eyes kept her frozen, her own old, buried fears, kept her still, trapped into uselessness by her own traumatic memories.

_Please no. _

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He hated himself. He would gladly lunge into a fire at this point. Playing along on the plane had been the only logical option, he knew that, both in the moment and afterwards, no matter what; he knew he had to make them believe he was the Soldier again, to save himself, to save her. Inaction though, especially when she was being threatened and mistreated, had burned at him, grated at him. He felt guilt, and he felt worthlessness, watching her watching him with such despondency and sorrow in her eyes.

Bucky had known what she was planning, of course, he could tell simply by the look on her face. She was willing to sacrifice his life to prevent her power from getting into Hydra's hands, Reinhardt's hands. He'd been so proud of her in that moment. He had absorbed her grit and determination with inner pride, even though it was clearly an agony for her to choose his death.

However, his death would mean her own, if she was planning on tearing the plane apart, and he wouldn't allow that. Luckily though, he didn't need to worry about it. He'd been watching the Hydra agents on the plane who were spread out behind her, the ones she was not paying close enough attention to. They'd been clearly scrambling to get the tranq ready, unseen and unnoticed by her.

He wasn't relieved, exactly. Bucky hated to see her stabbed with it. Her being knocked out meant that the Hydra team wouldn't grapple with her bodily anymore though and also, it meant that the two of them were still going to be brought to Hydra's base, where he knew that Reinhardt was waiting. Bucky wanted the base to burn, and now that the two of them were inside the facility, he knew they'd be able to inflict the right kind of damage to see the job done.

The building had rumbled several times, as they locked him up, in the metal box that they'd obviously designed for torturous electro-shocking of prisoners. Each time the ground and the walls shook, they would electrocute him. After the first three shocks, he realized it was in reaction to something happening elsewhere in the building; obviously Winnie. _Punishment for her sins?_ The taller of the two men outside his cell would receive a message in his ear, then look over at Bucky expectantly as he pressed the lever on the wall. They guards would watch as he was shocked, and he obliged them by letting out pained screams.

_Fools_, he thought with disdain; he'd received so much worse in his lifetime - this was all a show. However, he wanted them to believe they had won. That they had won so thoroughly and so completely, that there was no way they could lose. He knew that was when any chance at his breaking free and escaping would be possible. They thought they had caged their Soldier again, Hydra thought he was theirs, and he knew they were going to be working on Winnie, to get her to comply, using him as leverage.

He had no intent of allowing that to go on very long; he sensed he was on the brink of being where he wanted to be with these guards; nearly off their radar, considered a broken toy and not a threat. Bucky intended to pay them back tenfold for the attack on the plane, his mind involuntarily flashing to the way they had grabbed at and manhandled Winnie again. He envisioned what they, what Reinhardt might be doing to her right now.

Bucky almost dropped his commitment to this, almost attacked right then and there. He knew she was tough though, and would make it through; he had to really focus past her, focus on the bigger prize: Reinhardt, Hydra – bringing the monster down, destroying this branch of Hydra; the only way to do that was to comply now, play pretend, earn their lazy trust, and then tear them apart.

Standing at attention, as blankly and robotically as he could muster, he let his eyes cut around the room, determining his best chances at escape, at destruction. He was certain he would be able to use his arm to destroy the metal cell he found himself in, and then he would dispatch these men as swiftly as possible - he would kill them all. Each and every one of them in his path, until he located her, located Reinhardt. Then he would squeeze the life out of the man with his metal hand.

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"You are putting a lot of faith on a guess," Coulson said sharply. Natasha turned to him, knowing her face had drawn down into an unfriendly glare. He continued regardless, "You don't know that he missed the three of you on purpose, you don't know that he's on our side."

She looked away from him, knowing that Coulson had a point, but still absolutely certain, in her gut, that she was correct. "He did," was all she said, "To buy us time. It was strategic, and it worked." Coulson eyed her speculatively, before turning and marching away, clearly not believing her.

They had landed on a fairly empty air strip, a team of Coulson's agents having arrived at the same time the Bus did. Natasha watched him giving orders, gesturing off towards the building where SHIELD had determined that Barnes and Winnie were being held; held along with their own agent. Sam approached then, his eyes moving over to the group of armed agents.

"I still think we should call in Steve, or Stark," he grumbled. Natasha looked over at him, but Sam steadfastly avoided her gaze. _He hates me right now,_ she realized, a little taken aback that he thought so little of her so quickly. Her spine stiffened.

"We don't have time," she snapped, "Even as we speak, they've had Nomad for too long. The threat is too high." Sam finally looked over at her, his face disgusted. "She would move a mountain to extract any of us," he told her angrily, "She would drop a mountain on herself to help us."

"None of us are capable of moving a mountain, Wilson," Natasha informed him curtly, "None of us could use a _mountain_ as a weapon. _That's_ exactly the problem." She began to double check her gear, taking the opportunity to look away from the dislike on Sam's face. "Obviously extraction without loss is the goal, but I can't and won't ignore the threat she poses in the wrong hands," she continued, "Sam, I know she's your friend, but first in foremost in this situation: Nomad is a weapon."

Sam took a step back. "I think for today we might be on opposite teams," he muttered, turning away from her. She watched him jog towards the SHIELD agents. She knew that she had a duty as an Avenger, as an ex-SHIELD agent, as a protector, as a person - to make sure Hydra didn't gain control over a weapon that could destroy almost anything.

That was a line that she didn't think anyone wanted crossed. _The problem is that this weapon is a person, so the line gets a little blurry, don't you think? _She steadfastly ignored the pit of distaste growing in her own stomach. She wasn't sure if she had the capability to actually, properly, be someone's friend, at least with anyone other than Clint, but she was fairly certain that Steve and Winnie were pretty damn close to it. _Duty, Romanoff, duty. _It was a harsh reminder.

Coulson waved her over then and she started over to where he and everyone else stood. She knew Coulson's goal was his own agent's safety first, Hydra's fall and Reinhardt's capture second, and Winnie and Barnes' safe recovery third. Even he was hoping for safe extraction. He hadn't said a word about her plans to take Winnie out as a threat if it became apparent that she was compromised, even though she knew Hunter had gone to him about that almost immediately. _Even a newcomer, a stranger, saw how grossly out of line your willingness to kill Winnie is, _she chastised herself, coming to a stop in front of Coulson. Her internal war continued: _it's the right move, absolutely. So, how come it has to feel so incredibly shitty?_

"Are we ready?" She asked Coulson flatly, and he nodded, his eyes cutting over her face critically, narrowing as they did so.

"Are you?" He asked her shortly, and she resisted the urge to glare, instead nodding curtly.

They approached the building in vehicles, she didn't know how SHIELD had gotten them and didn't care. Once a few blocks out, they switched to approach on foot. When they rounded the final city streets, moving with precise stealth towards the dilapidated building, Natasha knew immediately that something was wrong.

The building was falling apart. Walls, windows, floors, ceiling, it was crumbling, shaking itself to pieces. The ground beneath their feet was shaking and you could _feel_ the waves of power in the air; it made it hard to breathe, hard to think clearly. Buildings around the one at the centre of Winnie's maelstrom were slowly being damaged, the ground slowly cracking into the smallest of fractures all around them. _She could level the entire city if we don't stop her; what if we're too late? What if Winnie's not driving anymore and it's someone else, Reinhardt, at the wheel?_

"She's in there," Sam murmured, and Natasha nodded. Coulson was ordering his people around the building, to spread out, to find their agent, to get her out. To arrest Barnes, to arrest Ward, to capture Nomad. Reinhardt was to be grabbed and held.

"Tell them not to approach her," Natasha growled at Coulson, "Don't be stupid, Director, tell your people to stay back from her, she's unbalanced when under duress." Coulson eyed her but didn't do anything to comply with her advice. Natasha quietly cursed him in Russian, and he shot her a look filled with exasperation.

They got inside the building and she couldn't help but feel proud of the SHIELD agents sweeping in ahead of them; Coulson ran a tight ship, these people were good. Natasha could feel the dread building in her heart as they got closer and closer to Winnie. She could tell they were near to reaching her because they were all walking bent into the waves of power, pushing through it with effort, as if facing hurricane strength winds. The more difficult it became to walk, the closer to Winnie they got.

A wall just ahead came crashing down into the hallway they were making their way through and then they could all hear Winnie's voice, harsh and dangerous, coming from the room on the other side.

"Thank you for teaching me," Winnie spoke clearly, calmly, and a shiver ran down Natasha's spine, "Because now I can do this."

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"I have not been able to match my work with you, though others within Hydra, even as we speak, are trying," Reinhardt told her, his voice proud and conversational, "What we did with you, Zola and I, was nothing short of a miracle." Winnie strained against the bands holding her pinned to her seat, desperate to escape. Reinhardt watched her dispassionately for a moment before continuing with his sermon.

"Everyone was most eager to recreate the serum that changed your Captain, they tried, again and again," Reinhardt explained in a voice filled with fond reminiscence, "It wasn't until the Red Skull decided to use the Tesseract that we made any advancement." His blue eyes darted up to meet her, a smile pulling at his mouth.

"Sergeant Barnes was our first successful subject with the Tesseract-enhanced serum," he clarified for her, "And clearly that worked well for him; we weren't certain for the longest time." Reinhardt clasped his hands together behind his back and began to slowly pace back and forth.

"You though, that didn't start out as science," he informed her, tipping his head up to look up at the ceiling, as if seeking strength, "That was revenge to begin with; a simple human emotion, strange to see coming from the Red Skull." Reinhardt stopped and turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "He was hardly a human by that point, but he certainly felt hate for Captain Rogers." Reinhardt turned his back on her and walked towards one of the destroyed windows. His German accent became more and more pronounced as he remembered aloud their sordid past.

"Zola and I, we both thought it was a mistake," Reinhardt spoke thoughtfully, as he faced the outdoors, "For different reasons to be sure. I thought we would be better off simply destroying the Commandos, or capturing them, turning them into weapons, or killing them in the process of trying." He waved a hand back at her, without turning.

"Zola, though, he was soft at times, and he required convincing before he could strengthen his own resolve," Reinhardt explained, a laugh in his voice, "He did not want to hurt a woman!" Reinhardt laughed aloud and turned to her, smiling pleasantly.

"They took you, and they brought you in – oh the look on his face when he saw you that first time was quite priceless," Reinhardt seemed to find it confusing that she was not also amused by this and approached her, "There you were, this little, damaged _thing." _He stopped a few feet from her and took in her clenched jaw, her wide, angry eyes, the way she was shaking with fury.

"He _pitied_ you!" Reinhardt clarified, smiling still as he reached a hand towards her, touching the side of her face lightly. Winnie jerked her head from the touch, glaring darkly at him.

"He got over it quickly though, especially once Herr Schmidt made it clear that if he did not, you would both die for it," Reinhardt stepped back, leaning against the desk again, "You truly were the perfect form of revenge, to get closest to the Captain, to hurt him, to break him, and then you could unleash your might upon him, to destroy him, to ruin him. It would have been perfect."

"You failed," she finally spoke, managing a tight smile, "You all failed." He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Did we? Red Skull was simply a leader, not a god, once he was removed, well, as we say, two more could take his place," Reinhardt smirked at her, "And we got you – it took a while, I agree, but here you are. I'm not a politician, I'm not Pierce, and I have no desire to run SHIELD or lead Hydra. I simply want power, and all the world at my feet." Winnie snorted and looked away, the arrogance of this man not really surprising her.

"You don't believe me?" He asked her, his voice slightly harder. Winnie looked back to him.

"I will never give you what you want, I _will_ die before that happens," she promised him. Reinhardt laughed and rubbed his forehead for a moment.

"I created you, _Nomad_," he teased her, "I, who know you better than you know yourself, _I_ will see to it that you do as you're told. We don't need Winnie Johnson to comply, we just need this silly superhero, this _Nomad_, to become a soldier. I can change your wants and desires, it's not hard – I can change your memories, your very personality. I can give you new ones, or simply take it all away and leave you as a blank slate."

Winnie swallowed hard at the bile rising in her throat; he was describing Bucky, describing what had been done to Bucky. He laughed and shook his head, waving a hand at her.

"You seem familiar with the process, surely your own Soldier has told you all about it? You are likely intimate and familiar with how it is done," he mocked her, before his voice hardened and his eyes narrowed, "You _will _comply. You don't have any choice in this."

She wanted to lash out and kill him, rip his head off, but she couldn't; she was still stupidly, distantly, hopeful that she could somehow find a way to at least free Bucky. Reinhardt approached her again, standing directly in front of her.

"I believe the very first thing I would like to do, is to send you and Barnes after Captain Rogers, make the two of you tear him apart in a public spectacle, while the world watches," he said this in a low, throaty voice, and Winnie fought to keep her face stiff and flat.

"You know I couldn't," she managed, "You, who apparently knows me so well? I can't move people, and you know it. There are limits to my abilities, limits to my power." She had hoped to give him pause, hoped to make him suddenly realize that she was not such a perfect weapon, that he _had_ failed with her, and that she needed to be discarded.

Instead, Reinhardt burst out laughing. Huge, gusting chuckles rippled out of him, as he nearly folded in half with his mirth. He rested a hand on her shoulder and she could feel his arm shaking with his laughter.

"You stupid girl," he managed to wheeze in, "All these years and you never figured it out? Are you so afraid of yourself?" He laughed harder, before suddenly, and swiftly, standing up straight and moving to stand inches from her, bent so his face was right in front of hers, both hands gripping the sides of her head tightly.

"You are very nearly unstoppable, you have the potential to do anything, _anything_, and you let your own paltry human fear stand in the way," he murmured, looking intently into her widened, frightened eyes, "Your possibility is endless; _have you no imagination?"_

She stared at him, fighting the urge to cry, to scream, to lash out. "I don't want to be the thing you want me to be," she said quietly, "I will not lose control that way." He shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment as if she were too stupid to bear.

"When you hand yourself over, when you fully accept what you are, you will gain control. You will own yourself and all that stands before you," he told her darkly, "Once you abandon the barriers that you have created, once you decide to be what you truly are, then you will finally begin to live. Not this lie you live now, this falsehood, but the existence you were _created_ to live."

They stared at each other for a long moment and then he stood up straight, shaking his head as he released his grip on her skull. "No matter," he spoke, turning back to the desk, "I don't need your mind intact to get you where I want you to be. And because you have been so unwillingly, I've decided that we certainly don't need Barnes. He can go back to rot in cold storage in Siberia."

Reinhardt turned and shot her a nasty smile, watching as she panted in growing upset at his words. "I hope you said your goodbyes to him, you won't be seeing him again. Perhaps we should just kill him, make it very final." His words were delivered flatly, and she did not for a moment doubt that he would do precisely as he said. A wave of frustration, rage, sadness, and longing for Bucky, mingled with a longing to escape this grinding, unending loop of capture and mistreatment, filled her to the brink. Pushed to her limit, Winnie crossed the barrier in her mind.

The world slowed down, seeming to halt all around her. Winnie watched Reinhardt move, reach for a little phone in his pocket. He was making the call now, she could tell. She thought of Bucky, what he had suffered already. _All_ he had suffered already. Everything he had lost, from friends, to family, to his time, to her, to himself. Reinhardt's words spun dizzyingly through her shaken and disturbed mind and without any effort, she transferred her entire self over to the hungry darkness of her power, which she had always kept locked away so completely.

_When you hand yourself over_ – Winnie's eyes rolled back into her head.

_When you fully accept what you are_ – her mind slipped free of its bonds and she let it go without a fight.

_You will gain control_ – she sought the dark place inside her, eagerly now, not in defeat.

_You will own yourself –_ Winnie could feel the moment she connected with her ability, when she dropped all pretense of trying to hold it back. Her arms snapped out of their bindings, flying out to her sides, and she curled her fingers.

_And all that stands before you_ – in an instant she had freed herself and let a wave of power break away, smashing up through the ceiling, down through the floor, and out through the walls.

She climbed to her feet, shattering the phone in Reinhardt's hands without a second thought. Winnie sensed the guards in the hall opening their mouths, making movements to report her actions and she hit them with energy hard enough to immediately knock them unconscious.

Her eyes moved briefly to Reinhardt, as he turned around, the shattered phone floating in pieces above his hand. He looked startled; he clearly never expected her to reach this state on her own, never thought she would fight back with Bucky's life on the line.

However, as shocked and frightened as he looked, she still saw a deep delight in his eyes. Winnie froze him in place, and closed her eyes, shrugging her shoulders slightly as she instinctively reached out through the building, locating Bucky, disintegrating his cell around him, heaving his guards against the wall so roughly she knew they were dead on impact. Her actions hardly made sense to her; it was as if her ability was simply fulfilling her desires through its own means, regardless of whether or not she understood how it was doing so.

Without even knowing she was able to, Winnie dipped into Bucky's mind without effort or planning, and told him to run. She felt him recoil in fear at the intrusion. Winnie couldn't waste time trying to convince him further, he was free now and that was all that mattered. The instant she entered his mind she became fully and completely aware of his earlier ruse on the planes. The relief she felt that he was not truly lost to Hydra's brainwashing, was nearly intoxicating. She admired his bravery, and cursed his stupidity for not checking it with her first.

With effort, Winnie let Bucky's deception go and ripped herself back to the room she stood in and watched Reinhardt's eyes, watched them follow her as she stepped away from the chair and towards him.

She sensed his fear of death, but his excitement at her display of power was stronger. Her senses assailed her, taking in almost too much information to process. She was inadvertently letting tidal waves of power demolish the buildings around them while she destroying the Hydra vehicles outside, preventing escape, ripping their weapons apart. The power was slipping her bonds and she didn't care, letting it streak out into the city. The earth around the building was cracking, the foundation of the ruined building breaking.

Winnie truly didn't consciously care. She knew SHIELD was here, knew that Skye was no longer in the building, and with barely a thought, she protected the SHIELD agents in the building from her destructive power as best as she could, turning the most violent of its waves away from them. She had Bucky wound so tightly in her power that she knew he must be finding it difficult to even walk; but he could be hit with an airplane right now and would survive, and that was all that mattered to her.

Winnie approached Reinhardt, raising him into the air before her slowly and gracefully; a stark contrast to the utter mayhem tearing about the building and the city around them.

""Thank you for teaching me," Winnie spoke clearly, "Because now I can do this." She heard people entering the room behind her and held a hand up towards them briefly – not telling them to stop, but simply stopping them herself.

She broke Reinhardt's legs as he hung frozen by her power, and Winnie felt a dark rushing of pleasure inside her. "In your arrogance, you taught me, without realizing it," she explained to him, breaking his hands and feet all at once. He screamed and she glowered at him. "And now, you get to pay."

Winnie broke his arm and he howled, before managing to turn wild eyes to her, a frantic gleam in his gaze. "This doesn't matter!" He screamed at her his German accent thick and strong, "You belong to Hydra! They will find you! They will _always_ find you! They will _always_ seek you! You _belong_ to Hydra! You will _never_ escape our reach!"

She broke his other arm then and heard Natasha yelling at her from behind, "Winnie! _Nomad! Winnie!_ Stop! Stop! Please!" Winnie was lost though, Reinhardt owed her a debt and she wanted payment, now. She glared at him, her head tilting to the side.

"You can kill me, girl," Reinhardt vowed raggedly, "But two more will take my place, as they always do. You will never escape; they will _find you. They will take what you love and destroy it, before they destroy you. They. Will. Find. You."_

The room was completely silent for a moment before Winnie reached a clenched hand towards Reinhardt.

"Let them try," she murmured, before she flicked her closed fist open, violently tearing Reinhardt apart. The group behind her started yelling, yelling at her to stop, to put her hands on her head, to lay on the ground, to_ stop._

"Winnie!" She heard Sam yell and turned to find him standing next to Natasha, "Don't do this, stop now!" He yelled at her. He had his weapon half raised towards her. Everyone else, including Natasha, had their weapons trained on her.

A noise outside the door drew her attention, and she turned to see Bucky, struggling against the monumental wave of power pushing against him. Half the guns in the room shifted to him, and she felt a bubble of fury blossom in her chest.

"Winnie!" Bucky yelled, waving a hand at her, his eyes darting around the room, and landing on the remains of what was once Reinhardt. "Come with me! Come now!" He urged her, his gaze meeting hers.

She couldn't stop though, wouldn't, even though the building was still falling to pieces around her. Winnie felt a strange sense of peace from finally being connected so fully and so completely to her ability. It was a dark kind of satisfaction. _I've hardly been myself all these years, this is who I am: _a monster.

"I'm not safe," she told Bucky, her soft words rising over the destruction carrying on around them. Bucky's eyes widened at her words, and he shook his head.

"Neither am I!" He called back, trying to get closer to her. She was half-heartedly trying to hold him back, but he wouldn't stop pushing towards her.

"Barnes! Stay back!" Natasha yelled, "It's unsafe! Stay back!" Bucky didn't spare Natasha a glance and Winnie watched as he finally reached her, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her into his chest. She listened as his metal arm whirred when it embraced her, and she closed her eyes, letting the comfort of his touch wash over her.

"Winnie, you have to stop, you're hurting people," he whispered to her and she pushed away from him, looking up into his handsome face, his worried and pained eyes. He still loved her, she could see that on his face. A gun was fired into the air then, and she shoved Bucky away, to the ground, as quickly as she could. It was Coulson, and he had the gun trained on her.

"Nomad, stop this now," he warned her, "You're killing people out there." He waved a hand outside. "You have one chance to stop this immediately on your own, or I'll take you down." The threat to her person was something that her ability responded to, before her thinking mind could, and it lashed out at Coulson, heaving him across the room, his gun clattering to the ground as he slammed bodily into a wall.

Several things happened at once then, and Winnie was not fast enough to stop them. Natasha shot at her, and Winnie had just enough time to spin around towards the oncoming bullet, knowing without fear that she could stop it before it touched her.

Bucky didn't know that though, or at least he forgot what she was capable of doing in the heat of the moment, and he threw himself in the bullet's path. It slammed into his chest and Winnie screamed in horror, watching as he fell to the ground.

She didn't look at Natasha, just disintegrated the gun in her hands instead, before tossing the redhead into the wall as she had Coulson. Winnie rushed to Bucky's side, catching him as he slumped to the ground. He was bleeding, heavily, from the wound, but she could tell it had missed his heart; it looked to have torn through the meat of what was left of his shoulder on his left side.

He was sucking in air, obviously hurting, and struggling to get to his feet. "We have to go, we have to run," he coughed, wincing in pain, "We have to leave now, Win, we have to go."

She finally stared around at the destruction clearly, feeling her power wilt and begin to die down, dissipating and disappearing. Her eyes moved back to Bucky, to the bleeding wound, to his facial wounds from the fighting on the Bus, and the scorch marks on his hand and neck from the cell they'd been holding him in.

Winnie looked up and saw that Natasha was back on her feet and had another gun, and now she and Sam were both aiming weapons at her. Behind them, agents were helping a dazed Coulson to his feet, and Agent May was levelling a dark look at her.

"What have I done?" She whispered, looking back down at Bucky. In the distance she could hear people screaming, and sirens, and realized the scope of her damage was much wider ranging than this room.

"We can leave, we can still go, you and I," Bucky told her, struggling again to sit up. She put a hand on his chest, pushing him back down to the floor, noting in abject horror that her palm grew wet and red with his blood.

"They will always come for me," she whispered to him, repeating Reinhardt's final warning. She met his panicked gaze and saw him fighting to sit up, and used her ability to easily and gently hold him still as she continued, "It will always be me they come for, and it will always be you who pays the price." Bucky was the one thing an enemy could always hold over her head, she saw that so starkly and so clearly that it left her feeling empty and bereft; it was clear what she had to do.

Winnie leaned down and kissed Bucky, on the lips, on the cheek, on the forehead. She sat back up on her heels, moving to get away. He strained against her power. "Winnie! Please!" Bucky called her, "Don't do this!"

"I love you," she told him quietly, "Bucky, I always loved you." He swallowed hard, realizing what she meant to do, and his brow drew together in pain. "Winnie don't," he pleaded her.

"Say it," she demanded softly, smiling sadly at him, "Please say it." Bucky swallowed again, the veins standing out in his neck momentarily as he fought her power, attempting to get up and follow her, before he sagged in defeat, his eyes meeting hers.

"I love you, you know I do," he complied with her request, his voice a hollow shell. Winnie closed her eyes and looked away from him, feeling her chest beginning to ache. She flicked a hand at the agents who all moved towards her as she rose to her feet, freezing them in place.

"Don't come after me," she warned them. She turned on her heel and ran to the ragged opening in the wall which lead outside and launched herself out into the empty air, into daylight, escaping the sound of Bucky yelling for her.


	5. Chapter 5 - Gone

**Chapter 5: Gone**

***** Last chapter! Not as long as the others though! Enjoy! *** **

He didn't speak. The SHIELD medical team worked on him, quickly, even fearfully, but he didn't speak. They restrained him in a cell, converted to a hospital room, and he didn't speak. He never made eye contact, he never acknowledged the presence of anyone, he simply sat, and hung his head. Or lay in bed and stared at the ceiling.

He could tell by the voice patterns of those around him, that he was frustrating them all. Bucky simply did not care. He wasn't looking for an escape, he wasn't trying to get away. He was simply there.

They brought in a terrified technician to look at his arm, at the damage it had sustained from the shocks he'd received in Hydra's electric cage, and he simply sat there, letting the young man work over it, fawn over some of it, and then stared at the floor when the guy left.

In a matter of days, he felt healed to normal, and knew that he had reached a point where he could and should escape. He didn't try. He hadn't been able to get through to her, to reach her when she really needed it, and it marked him as a failure. He couldn't forgive himself.

Day after day passed in this way. He was silent and still, unfocused and clearly unhappy. Agent May came down several times after he'd healed, attempting to start up conversation with him. At first he didn't even listen to her, her voice droning senselessly while he stared at the concrete floor, or while he leaned his head back on the wall he was sitting against, eyes closed.

"This was her choice," the first of May's words to finally break through his haze, shocked him out of his stupor. Bucky opened his eyes and turned to her. He'd been standing, facing away from her, arms hanging uselessly at his sides, ignoring her again when she came down the stairs of the SHIELD facility that lead to this holding cell. When he finally looked at her, she was sitting easily in a chair, just on the other side of the force field which acted as the fourth wall of his cell.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better," he commented flatly, meeting her hard gaze. May shrugged. "I don't care _how_ it makes you feel, to be honest," she informed him, "I just thought I'd let you know, because it doesn't seem to me like you were really aware of it."

"Aware?" He snapped, taking a step towards her, "_Aware?_" His face pulled into the hard lines of a dangerous glare, but she remained placidly calm in the face of his emotion. "You wasted your breath then, Agent," he spat, "Trust me when I say, I'm perfectly aware that this was her choice."

"You sure about that?" She asked him easily. Bucky blinked at her, not certain how to answer. _What the hell is wrong with this woman? Why the hell does this matter?_

"Did you respect her? Did you trust her? Did you care about what she thought and felt?" May rattled off the series of questions at him and he went rigid, striding aggressively towards the force field. "_YES – of course I did!" _He shouted at her. May got to her feet, stepping up as closely as possible to the other side of the force field, tilting her head to stare up at him, her face serious and hard.

"Did you believe she had the right to live her life as she saw fit?"

"Screw you," Bucky snarled at her.

"Did her opinions and ideas matter to you?"

"Shut up," he muttered angrily.

"Are you capable of being supportive? Of being trusting?"

"_Shut up,_" he growled angrily.

"You're so wrapped up in what you're feeling you can't even pause for a second to consider how she is feeling, can you? To try and see her side in this."

"_Shut! Up!"_ He yelled at her. His booming cry echoed around the small room for a moment. She turned away from him, unperturbed. "What happens next for you, Barnes?" She replied quietly, "Do you remain locked up? Do you give up? Do you disappear and leave it at that?"

"I'm not going anywhere in here," he shot back, still breathing heavily, upset from her prodding words. May shrugged and turned back to him. "Things change," she answered cryptically. Before he could push for more, she turned and strode from the room, leaving him to stare after her, mystified by the entire exchange.

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They left him alone for days after that. He slept, he ate, he took a brief shower, but mostly, he found himself unable to think about anything other than May's antagonizing words. _Of course I respect her._ He thought endlessly about things Winnie had done, the things he'd seen her do, the growth of her power, her struggle to train with it. _Of course her opinion matters. Of course I trust her._ Winnie, above all others in the world, he trusted implicitly. He would jump off a cliff for her, lay in a roaring fire for her, eat a bullet for her. He would do literally anything in the world to keep her safe. To keep her happy.

_She doesn't want you to follow. What makes her happy is not being with you, is keeping you away._ He shook his head. _This _thing he didn't think he could do for her. As the days alone with his thoughts wore on, he came to understand what May had been trying to do by upsetting him. _She thinks Winnie made the right choice. _Bucky knew, if he were in Winnie's shoes, he would have done exactly what she did. He knew he'd even take it further, and he'd likely end the threat he represented rather than risk her looking for him.

That made him sit bolt upright, breaking away from his thoughts in a hurry. His heart began to race at the thought of Winnie attempting to take that ultimate step. _She wouldn't._ He held onto the thought that she would not leave the rest of them that way. She'd hide from them, hide from everyone, maybe forever, but she'd never take her own life. He didn't think he could handle an entire lifetime away from her though.

_She'll never come out of hiding, not unless all of Hydra is gone. _Bucky climbed to his feet, realization flooding his body. He knew what he needed to do, then. What needed to happen for him to get her back. _Hunting for her will only push her further away, make her more desperate._ No, he needed to make it safe for her.

Bucky's eyes were drawn to the walls of his cells, his heart sinking. He had to get out of here first and they didn't seem inclined to hold the door open for him. _Steve won't leave me here forever._

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Steve's first instinct, when it came to his friends, was to act. Act immediately and make it better. He felt like he'd been arguing for weeks with Fury about getting Bucky back. Fury seemed to think Bucky was where he belonged, locked up, locked away, a threat to no one.

Steve would have just gone alone and just made it happen, only he didn't know where this secret SHIELD base was. Sam was working with Clint, trying to reverse the tracking that had been built into Winnie's suit, trying to untangle the mess of the device, the security in it, to try and backtrack from when it had stopped tracking, back to where she, Bucky, Nat, and Sam had been before, at the SHIELD facility. It was slow going, and even then, if they managed to unwind all of it, Clint wasn't confident that they'd know where the facility was.

"It's just going to give us all of the places she was in, Steve," Clint had tried to explain, "It won't tell us how long she was located anywhere, just that she was there."

"Then find out where all those places were," Steve reasoned seriously, "I'll go to every damn one if I have to."

"It's not that simple, Steve," Sam piped up, from his seat near the computer they were using to do all of this. Steve shook his head and waved them back to their work. He wished he knew where Nat had gone. After everything that had gone down in Puerto Rico, she'd disappeared again. He knew she would find a way to locate the facility very easily. However, Clint had maintained that she was likely shaken by all that happened and needed some time to regroup. Steve doubted that. He felt certain that she was out hunting Winnie.

Bruce or Tony might be able to help quickly as well. Steve grumbled angrily to himself as he stalked back to the office Fury was working out of in their current location at the old dam. Tony had laughed at him and hung up when he'd called to ask for help. Steve had known it was a long shot, that Tony didn't give a shit about Bucky. He was certain that Tony would help search for Winnie, but Tony seemed to think she needed to stay hidden, that she needed to be left alone.

Steve stalked into the office Fury was in, a glare settling on his face in preparation for another futile conversation. Fury glanced up at him briefly, sighing a little in resignation when he saw Steve back for yet another round.

"No," Nick said, pre-emptively. Steve rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. "You know, eventually we'll figure this out, figure out where they're holding him, and if I have to go, with my own team, to break him out, it's not going to be pretty," Steve warned him. Fury said nothing, looking away to grab his cup of coffee.

"As far as I'm concerned, Bucky has been captured by the enemy, is being held against his will, and is in eminent danger," Steve continued, "Any attempt I make to go in there will be considered a dangerous extraction. I won't show any mercy and it won't be clean."

"Barnes can't wander free," Fury replied flatly, "The fact that you all conspired to keep him in hiding so long is a crime in itself. He's an assassin, he's dangerous, and he's a criminal."

"He's my friend," Steve said firmly, "He's a long-standing prisoner of war, he's Hydra's victim every bit as much as Winnie was. He needs help and rehabilitation, not a jail cell and solitary confinement." Fury shook his head.

"Don't get me started on Winnie, _Nomad_," Fury shot back, getting to his feet, "She's out there somewhere, completely out of control, and dangerous as hell. You _should_ be focused on finding her."

"I will be," Steve spoke angrily, standing up straight, "But she ran for a reason, and she won't be out to hurt people, she doesn't need to be found right now; Bucky does."

"I can't give that information to you, I've told you that," Fury said, getting himself under control, sitting back against the desk he'd been working at, "Let. It. Go."

"I'm asking you one more time to help me," Steve was losing his temper, and wanted to stay cool, but was growing more and more tempted to just clean Fury's clock, "I'm not going to be responsible for everything that follows if you don't see sense now and help me."

"I'm sorry, Captain Rogers, the answer is no," Fury responded. Steve's brow drew down in rage and he couldn't stop the glare from twisting his face.

"Get out," Steve ordered him, his voice flat and hard. Fury stared at him, not reacting, and Steve pointed at the door. "You're not an Avenger, you're not the director, you're not SHIELD, get the hell out of here and don't come back," his voice was thick with rage. Fury straightened suddenly and nodded curtly.

"Fine," he said angrily, pushing past Steve, "I'll be waiting for you when you decide to go after Barnes, because I'm telling you now, he's where he belongs and I can't let you take him."

Fury strode down the hallway, towards the exit, and Steve called after him in a tight voice, "See you then, sir."

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Sargent Barnes, hello." Bucky turned to the voice and saw Coulson waiting for him on the other side of the force field.

"What do you want?" Bucky asked him, with no preamble. Coulson's eyebrow twitched up and he sat down on the chair outside of Bucky's cell. "Nothing," Coulson replied, "Just here to chat." Bucky sat down on the edge of his bed, staring down at his hands for a moment, before looking back up at Coulson.

"What do you want?" He asked again, his face remaining flat and emotionless. Coulson rearranged himself in his seat a little and then put his hands on his knees.

"If you could walk out of here today, what's your plan?" Coulson asked him. Bucky sat up a little straighter, his own eyebrows raising in disbelief. "Why does that matter?" Bucky said instead. Coulson nodded and waved a hand at him.

"It's a simple question," he told Bucky, "Do you have a plan? A target?"

"A target?" Bucky asked incredulously, "Why would I have a target? What makes you think I wouldn't immediately go after her?"

"I think you know better than that," Coulson said, "I think you know that's the last thing you should do."

Bucky swallowed and looked away. "You think I'm him still, _Soldat,_" he spoke his former title in Russian without thinking. Coulson stared at him, his gaze inflexible. "Are you?" He asked bluntly. Bucky got to his feet and turned away.

"No," he answered quietly. He heard Coulson clear his throat and reluctantly turned back to face him. "Who are you, then?" Coulson asked him, "This _Soldat_? Sargent Barnes? An Avenger?"

"Nothing," Bucky answered unwillingly, "I'm none of those things." Coulson nodded as if that made sense.

"What do you want?" Coulson asked him this time. Bucky met the man's placid gaze and didn't look away this time.

"To extinguish Hydra, to set her free," he said quietly, but with all the conviction he felt burning his stomach.

"Then we have a common goal," Coulson informed him briskly, climbing to his feet. Bucky took an involuntary step towards the force field.

"What?" Bucky said haltingly, not sure how to ask what he was thinking. Coulson turned away from him, towards the small screen on the pedestal that sat just to the left of the chair, and tapped lightly at a few things on the screen.

There was a slight frisson to the air and Bucky felt rather than saw the force field drop. He didn't move, not sure what this meant. Coulson turned to him and waved a hand in a sweeping motion out towards the room he stood in.

"Let's get you suited up and then out of here," Coulson told him shortly, "You have things you need to do, and I'm eager to see them done."

Bucky walked out stiffly, following Coulson up the stairs, wondering if this was a trick. He was led to a small room down a few corridors, and he hesitantly entered, wondering if he was being locked up somewhere new. His gear, the Soldier's gear, waited on a table for him. He waited until the door to the little room closed before getting changed. He found weapons waiting on another table, to fill the holsters and straps and sheaths. Opening the door when he was done, he found Coulson and Agent May waiting for him.

"This way," she said shortly. Coulson didn't follow, and Bucky paused, turning to him and squinting slightly, not sure if he should goodbye or thank you. "Good luck," Coulson told him, before turning on his heel and striding away. Bucky stared after him, slightly dumb founded, before turning to May.

"Come on," she said brusquely. He nodded and followed. They walked through a short hallway, before she opened a hatch in the floor, climbing the ladder that led down below. "Close it after yourself," she ordered him when she reached the bottom. He did as he was told, and looked around when he touched down next to her. They were in a dark tunnel and May snapped on a flashlight.

"This way," she said again. He assumed she was not much for conversation, which was odd considering how much she had annoyed him earlier with her incessant patter and questions. They walked in silence. It felt like they were walking forever. He couldn't complain, this was better than his cell. Eventually the tunnel ended and May reached for something in the wall, clicking and snapping sounding from whatever she was doing.

He was nearly blinded by the sunlight that streamed in through the door that suddenly swung open. He looked out, and they were surrounding by rocks, hills, and scrubby brush. "Where is this?" He asked her. She simply stared at him and waved him out.

"He trusts you to do the right thing," May said instead of answering, "Do what you do best. Stop them." Bucky stared at her and then turned to look around the landscape he was in again. Without a word he began to walk away.

"Barnes," she called out after him a moment later and he paused to look back, shielding his eyes with his hand.

"What?"

"Don't go after her, no matter how much you want to, she's made her choice," May warned him.

"Not until it's finished," he replied, "Not until it's done." She nodded curtly, "Good." May immediately closed the door and he watched as the door shimmered, as his force field had, and then disappeared. He stared at the place where it had been for a long moment, before turning around and striding out into the vast, desolate area around him.

"Not until it's finished."

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"What do you mean '_he's not here anymore'_?" Fury asked sharply, leaning down on his fists on Coulson's desk. Phil regarded him calmly.

"He's gone, he has better things to do," Phil said easily. Fury took a deep breath and then levelled his glare on Phil. "_Why?"_ Fury demanded, "That man was a criminal. Not just any criminal, but a prolific, consistent, Hydra criminal."

"That man, was not the same man," Phil told him harshly, "You know that as well as I do. I don't need to explain to you what he was, what was done to him, but let's just say I can sympathize with someone who's been extensively experimented on, turned into something he's not supposed to be, against his will."

Fury stood up and stepped away, turning to the window, considering Coulson's words. "Phil," he began, but Coulson interrupted him. "No – he's going off to do what we should have been doing all this time, he's going after Hydra, and to him it's more personal, on more levels, than for anyone else," Phil walked around his desk, still speaking in a fierce tone of voice, "He can accomplish what we can't, what we wouldn't, what we didn't. He can do this, and he's driven. He's not a criminal, and he's not my prisoner."

Phil walked up to stand next to him, not looking over. "If you want to bring Barnes in, you'll have to find someone else to work with," Phil spoke quietly, but with a firmness to his voice that Fury had to respect.

"Fine, we've got bigger fish to fry, don't we – how's your agent doing? The one exposed to the alien device?" Fury turned to him, and watched Phil's expression move into the more professional one he typically wore when addressing Fury. As the man explained the situation to him, Fury thought about Captain Rogers. _I need to tell him Barnes is free, before he comes looking._

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

Steve flung the cell phone to his bed with a growl. He believed Fury, he did, but he had been relishing the moment he could be reunited with his friend. Finding out that Bucky was going off to attempt to single-handedly take down Hydra, was disheartening. _I still need to find him,_ Steve thought earnestly, _he could help us._

The rest of the group was being pulled into a search for a very specific Hydra nest. Thor had shown up again, driven to find Loki's staff, which the rest of them had mistakenly assumed had gone back to Asgard with him and Loki. Turns out SHIELD took it, which meant Hydra had it now. Steve struggled with himself for a moment. He longed to find his friends, having them lost, separated, was painful to him, the ache in his chest a constant reminder of how he'd failed them both, again.

"Steve." He turned to Sam's voice and found his friend leaning against the door. "He's gone, right?" Sam asked him. Steve nodded. "You were listening?" He commented. Sam shrugged. "Yeah, but he's not locked up anymore, right?"

Steve nodded, distracted by his thoughts again. Sam waved a hand in his field of vision. "So?" Sam asked him impatiently.

"So what?" Steve replied. Sam smiled slightly. "So when are we going after him?" He clarified. Steve smiled at him, a plan forming in his mind. "The rest of them are going after Hydra, after that staff," Steve told him, "That staff is dangerous in the wrong hands, it could hurt a lot of people." Sam nodded at him to continue.

"I have a duty, a job, to help them find it, I can't let more people get hurt because of it," Steve said.

"You want me to look for him," Sam stated, a smirk on his face. Steve nodded. "I'll be there, to help when I can," Steve assured him.

"And Winnie?" Sam asked, "Am I looking for her?" Steve paused, thinking about Natasha's recent return to their facility under the dam, her angry silence when he'd asked her if she'd found Winnie, found any leads. "No," Steve finally replied, "Winnie wants to stay hidden, and that's probably best for now, don't you think?"

Sam sighed and looked away. "You don't think he'll go to her?" His friend asked the question as if he expected the answer to be yes.

"Bucky knows better," Steve stated slowly, "Winnie needs to stay away from us all, we make her weak." Sam grimaced and looked down at his feet for a moment. Steve continued, "Bucky is the only one we can help." Sam crossed his arms over his chest and nodded curtly.

"I'll start now."

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

The night was peaceful. When the sun set, it seemed to bring a veil of silence with it, and the entire town grew quiet and subdued. With the balcony door open, the warm breeze from the water that lapped at the piers below flowed easily inside, suffusing the air with its salty aroma. The curtains, light and gauzy, fluttered sleepily on either side of the open doors, their ends tickling the tile floor lightly.

Winnie wrapped her arms around herself as she leaned against the gently ornate black railing. She wasn't cold, but she shuddered a little anyways with a long sigh. She finally felt restful. She felt certain she wouldn't able to stay in this lovely seaside villa for long, but for now, it was quiet, and it was peaceful. The breeze fluttered through her hair and she reached up to grab the loose bit of it, pausing when she caught site of the pale, blonde strands of it.

She tucked the wayward strand behind her ear and took another deep breath, letting the calming scents from outside fill her lungs. Dying her hair had been the first thing she'd done once she was thinking clearly again. Escaping Puerto Rico, getting away from her people, from her enemies, had been desperately hard for her. She had been wrapped up in a cocoon of her own misery. It hadn't helped that she'd had to run down street after street of destruction and suffering. She couldn't avoid it though.

_This is all your fault, _she'd thought in an endless mental chant, passing the wounded, the dead, the dying. The further from the city she got, the easier it was, though the things she had seen would haunt her always. _You are a monster. A murderer._ She'd had to steal a car to get to another area on the island nation. Then she'd stolen a boat. She had no idea how to drive a boat, and it had been a terrifying voyage, though thankfully the craft had a GPS on it that led her to Florida.

Getting past the Coast Guard had been proven nearly impossible, and she'd finally had to use her power to sink their boats. On land, they'd chased her. The destruction she left in the wake of her escape was horrifying. 24 hours after that, she was in a dingy motel room, just outside Disney World, bleaching her hair with at-home kits, until she was sure it would fall out. It didn't, but she was left with hair so pale blonde that she startled herself for days whenever she caught a look in a mirror.

After that, it was an endless stream of running and hiding. She found herself, on more than one occasion, cursing modern technology, knowing that cameras everywhere were capturing her image. She took to wearing heavy make-up, glasses, and wearing clothing that either made her look heavier than she was, or wearing skimpy modern clothing that left her with a constant blush on her face.

_Anything to be unrecognizable._ She wasn't like Natasha though. She had no idea how to get out of the States. She had no idea how to obtain fake IDs. She instead used her ability to sneak onto a cruise ship, dipping into the brains of the staff she encountered to make them forget or ignore her, worrying all the while that she was giving them lasting brain damage.

She reached Europe, though, and that was her goal. She knew on this continent there were many and more places to hide, much more than back home, and she had the option to escape to Asia or Africa, if she needed it. Instead, she made her way across the continent, stealing a lot of cars, stealing a lot of money. She made it to Italy, found herself a relatively quiet, slightly run-down sea-side town. A place where a tourist or visitor wouldn't make a scene, but where there were still not too many people milling about.

Winnie stared out at the water, watching the moon reflect back off the surface of it. She felt like she could stay here a while and regroup. Get her wits back. Take a breath. She turned away from the water and went back inside. The bedroom was directly within and she pulled off the sundress she wore, laying on the bed in her underthings. It was warm, and she was tired.

_I hate this. I hate myself._ Her mental chastising began for the evening, and she allowed her mind to rip her apart for a while until she succumbed to tears, burying her face in a pillow as she sobbed. Her heart hurt. She wanted Bucky there with her more than anything. The fact that it was her who kept them apart this time, sickened her. She missed Steve. She missed friends. She was not enjoying being alone. Winnie lifted her head, surveying the room. Not a single thing in it was levitating, despite her mental upset, despite her sobbing.

_I should be impressed_, she thought wryly, flopping over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling above. Ever since that day with Reinhardt, the day she relinquished all her fear of herself, the day she tore down all of her mental barriers and accepted her ability wholly, she had gained complete and utter control of it. It was a relief in a sense. She knew now that she'd been foolish to hold herself back, that she made herself more dangerous in doing so, but she also knew that she'd give anything to go back to her life, lack of control and all.

"Bucky," she murmured, bringing both her hands up to wipe beneath her eyes, brushing away the wetness of her tears. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to envision his smile, tried to picture him laughing, tried to see his face. She couldn't remember anything pleasant very vividly; she wasn't done torturing herself with the image of him injured and screaming for her as she turned her back on him and ran away. _Monster._

Winnie knew, as it had before, that the world would forget about her as a person, and she would become a story, a character, just a blurry figure out of a history book. She prayed Hydra and SHIELD would forget her as well. She wanted everyone to move on and let her be. That included Steve. She hoped he could see the sense in what she'd done. Why she'd done it. Bucky and Steve knew her better than any people on the planet, dead or alive, and she fervently hoped they'd understand her motivations. Understand her decision. Understand that being happy and being with them, put everyone in danger.

She allowed herself to imagine a world where Hydra was destroyed, where their threat was lifted and they were gone, another part of history, finished and closed. In that world, she found Bucky again, and they were happy. Winnie allowed herself to fall asleep imagining an impossible future.

She couldn't think of Bucky without crying during her wakeful moments, but asleep, she might be able to see him in her dreams, and if she was lucky, on a good night, her dreams were good ones and they were together again. Happy again.

Shifting on her pillow, Winnie slept, her blonde hair fanned out around her head like a halo. After a while, her eyelids fluttered and she sighed as a dream overtook her. A small smile curled at the corner of her lips. It was a good night.

**This won't be the end of the line for these guys – I'm planning on a short Age of Ultron-ish one shot, and then obviously I'm brewing thoughts about Civil War. You guys, I'm so incredibly grateful for the handful of you who have followed this set of fics from the beginning until now – I appreciate you! *****


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